The Housekeeper
Although it is obvious that a good education can be no impediment to domestic management, but may be of material assistance in the furtherance of family comforts, yet it is pleasing to reflect that many of the essential duties of life are within the reach of less exalted attainments; and that the woman who has been reared in useful pursuits, and whose chief aim is to perform the social obligations, will seldom fail of acquitting herself with credit and satisfaction, and especially if accompanied with that well-directed ductility of mind which bends its attention to the lesser objects of life, and is frequently found to be essential in the management of a family.
A housekeeper possessed of such facilities, as a ground-work for other qualifications, must be a desirable acquisition in a family where the mistress is of rank and consideration, and feels herself superior to the management of her own household affairs. Indeed, the situation of a housekeeper, in almost every family, is of great importance.—She superintends nearly the whole of the domestic establishment,—has generally the controul and direction of the servants, particularly of the female servants—has the care of the household furniture and linen—of all the grocery—dried and other fruits, spices, condiments, soap, candles, and stores of all kinds, for culinary and other domestic uses. She makes all the pickles, preserves, and sometimes the best pastry—She generally distils and prepares all the compound and simple waters, and spirits, essential and other oils, perfumery, cosmetics, and similar articles that are prepared at home, for domestic purposes. In short, she is the locum tenens, the Lady Bountiful, and the active representative of the mistress of the family; and is expected to do, or to see done, every thing that appertains to the good and orderly management of the household.
She ought to be a steady middle-aged woman, of great experience in her profession, and a tolerable knowledge of the world.—In her conduct, she should be moral, exemplary, and assiduous, as the harmony, comfort, and economy of the family will greatly depend on her example; and she must know, that no occurrence can be too trifling for her attention, that may lead to these results, and whereby waste and unnecessary expense may be avoided.
When the entire management of the servants is deputed to her, her situation becomes the more arduous and important. She will invite and excite their integrity, frugality, and assiduity, by her own liberal conduct towards them, and will shew them, that “according to their pains will be their gains.” Thus will she give encouragement to merit, ensure to herself respectful attention, inspire zeal, and exact a grateful return from all whose dispositions are tractable; she will also find such conduct tend much to her own comfort, and greatly to promote the interest of her principals. She will never discharge a good servant for a slight offence; but will remember, that “to bear and to forbear is the great art of living.” She will endeavour to govern with suavity and mildness; ever stimulating to good conduct, by admonition or praise, when deserved, rather than seeking by threats or harsh measures to correct trifling faults or inadvertencies;—imposing no commands that are unreasonable, nor reproving but with justice and temper. If servants have hardships to undergo, she will let them see, that she feels for the necessity of urging them. To cherish the desire of pleasing in them, she will convince them, that they may succeed in their endeavours to please her. Human nature is the same in all stations. Convince the servants that you have a considerate regard for their comforts, and they will be found to be grateful, and to reward your attention by their own assiduity: besides, nothing is so endearing as being courteous to our inferiors. A most excellent maxim is,
“Be to their faults a little blind,
And to their virtues very kind.”
By these, and similar means, bad servants may be converted into good ones, and the whole household rendered comfortable and happy.
The prudent housekeeper will carefully avoid all approaches to familiarity; as that destroys subordination, and ultimately induces contempt; and then, “Her occupation’s gone.” When servants are indisposed, she will best consult the feelings of her superiors, as well as her own, by remitting their labours, paying them attention, giving them advice, and the assistance of suitable food and comfort. Tenderness and assiduity, in such cases, have great effect;—and in the language of humanity, is half a cure.
Female servants who would pursue an honest course, have numberless difficulties to contend with, and should, therefore, be treated kindly. The housekeeper in a great family, has ample means of doing good; and she will, doubtless, recollect that it is a part of her duty to protect and encourage virtue, as the best preventive from vice.
It behoves every servant to maintain a good character, nor ought it to be refused when due.—Servants have nothing to depend on but their good name, which it would be the height of injustice wantonly to deprive them of.5 It ought to be made a point, by all persons hiring servants, most scrupulously to enquire into their characters, from their last places.—To refuse countenance to the bad, and to encourage the good servant, are indispensable duties which we owe to society.
In families where there is a house-steward, the marketing will be done, and the tradesmen’s bills will be collected, examined, and discharged, by him; but in many families, the business of marketing, and of keeping the accounts, devolves on the housekeeper. It is, therefore, incumbent on her to be well informed of the prices and qualities of all articles of household consumption in general use; and of the best times and seasons for procuring them, in order that by comparing prices and qualities, she may be able to substitute those that are most reasonable, but equally to her purpose, and best attainable, for others that are more costly or more scarce.6
Before the housekeeper goes to market, she will look over the larder with the cook, especially when company is expected, and on a Saturday, and consider well what things are wanted, not forgetting even the smaller articles, that so there may be no necessity for sending out in a hurry, or on a Sunday, for any thing.
The best and most economical way possible for marketing, is to pay ready money for all that you can, especially for miscellaneous articles, and to deal for the rest with the most respectable tradesmen, whose bills should be settled weekly, or, at any rate, frequently, to prevent mistakes; without these precautions, even those of much experience, may chance to be cheated by unprincipled strangers, with old poultry—stale fish—tough mutton—or cow beef.—It should always be recollected, that without good provisions the skill of the cook will avail nothing.
But, by whomsoever the provisions may be bought, it behoves the housekeeper to examine them as they come in,—to see that in weight and measure they agree with the tickets sent with them,—and to make the necessary arrangements, in conjunction with the cook, for their due appropriation.7
Besides being a good market-woman, the housekeeper ought to be ready at figures, and to understand the nature of common accounts, as it will generally be her business to keep the detailed accounts of the family, to examine the tradesmen’s bills by the checks, to pay them, and pay for all miscellaneous articles as they are brought in, for which vouchers must be given, to be produced when the account is settled; and to avoid the possibility of mistake, this should be done weekly, or at short and stated periods; for this purpose, a book must be kept, in which entry should immediately be made, of all monies paid, and in the evening, the book should be cast up, and compared with the cash in hand, by which means, any omission that might have taken place in the course of the day may easily be recollected and set right, and the account will be ready for inspection when called for.
The elegant and tasteful arrangement of the table is a very essential object in every Establishment; and when that department devolves on the housekeeper, will require her very serious consideration; as much of the credit and respectability of the family will depend on her.—Economy, taste, and tact must necessarily be displayed, and its execution involves much judgment, great attention, and unceasing assiduity. In order to have a table well served, and tastefully arranged, the skill and ingenuity of the cook, as well as the housekeeper, will be required—of the cook to dress it according to the fashion, and of the housekeeper, afterwards, to see that it be dished and served up according to the present costume.8
The etiquette of the table being arranged by the bill of fare, previously made out, and the dishes laid in order below stairs; it is the province of the housekeeper, when dinner is served up, to see that the butler has placed them properly on the table above; this requires a quick glance of the eye, and a correct taste to measure distances,—and to see that the dishes accord with each other, and thereby form a pleasing, inviting, and well-grouped picture.9
The housekeeper will employ the little leisure time she may have before the servants’ dinner hour, which in most families is generally early, in preparing the best pastry, or in doing any other things she can assist in, preparatory to the family dinner; at any rate, she will look around and see that the household business is, every where, going on regularly, and the culinary preparations getting forward. She then takes her seat at the head of the table, in the steward’s, or her own room, with the principal female servants and the men not in livery. In this situation she will have to carve, and as she will occasionally be required to assist the cook in dissecting a dish to be sent up stairs, it is indispensably necessary that she be proficient in the art of carving: and besides, to carve meat well, is a great saving.10 It would argue prudence and economy in her, to see that the pieces of bread which are brought down stairs, be eaten at this table, or in the servants’-hall, and it would be extravagance to suffer new bread to be eaten below stairs.
When the dinner is gone up, her attention will be directed to the dessert, which she prepares and lays out in her own room, previous to the removal of the cloth above stairs; when she makes her appearance with it, and arranges it on the dining-room table.
The Housekeeper now begins to find herself at leisure; by this time too, the maids will have done the principal part of their work above stairs, and the cook, kitchen-maid, and scullion, have washed up, and cleared away every thing, and cleaned up the kitchen.—After tea, the provident housekeeper will begin to think about to-morrow; evening being the best time for preparing all things that are likely to be wanted soon.—Small quantities of spices should be pounded and ground, and laid by in bottles, well corked, ready for use.—Much less spices are necessary, in gravies, &c. when thus prepared, than when boiled whole.—Raisins may be stoned, if wanted next day.—Currants may be washed, picked, and perfectly dried. White sugars should be broken, or pounded, rolled with a bottle, and sifted. Some of the oranges and lemons, to be used for juice, should be pared, and the rind put by to dry; and of some, when squeezed, and the pulp scraped out, the rinds may be kept dry for grating.
[The Salary of the Housekeeper is from twenty-five to fifty guineas per annum, dependent on the extent of the family, and the nature of the business she undertakes.]
Useful Memorandums.
Provisions that will keep, should be laid in in quantities when cheapest, to be ready when wanted.—The best of all kinds are the most economical, not only because they are best, but also, because they go furthest.
As sugar is an article of considerable expense, it is to be understood that, of the white sugars, the most refined goes furthest and sweetens best. Chuse those that are close, heavy, and shining.—The best sorts of the brown have a bright gravelly look. The coarser sorts are strongest and fittest for wines, sweetmeats, &c.
The only certain road to regularity, is to do every thing in its proper time—keep every thing in its proper place—and apply every thing to its proper use.
The great Dutch statesman, De Witt, attributed the whole art of dispatching a multitude of business, to the doing of one thing at a time.
The want of regularity gives to families the appearance of chance and confusion; on the contrary, order in a family is productive of much happiness.
Accustom all the servants under your direction to rise early, and let them breakfast at an early hour. If orders be given betimes in the morning, there will be more time to execute them,—servants will perform their work with more ease,—and less hands will be required. If the economy of time were duly considered, and a regular plan of daily employment laid down, much business may be effected without hurry or fatigue.
As some preparation is necessary in all families for accidental visitors, care should be taken to have things in readiness for lunch, chocolate, sandwiches, &c.
An inventory of furniture, linen, china, plate, &c. should be kept, and the articles examined by it twice a year, at least, or oftener if the servants be changed, and a correct list of the articles delivered into the care of the new servants should be kept.—House-cloths, knife-cloths, &c. should be numbered, and always be accounted for, either whole or in part—which would be done if a note were inserted at the top of the list of the articles delivered out.
Tin fenders, and other things that are painted, should be painted every year or two.—Tin vessels, if suffered to become damp, soon rust, and are eaten into holes.
The best way to scald fruits or to boil vinegar is, to put it in a stone jar on an iron hearth—or to put the jar in a saucepan of boiling water, called a water bath.
THE STORE-ROOM AND STILL-ROOM.
These rooms are entirely under the management of the housekeeper. The store-room is appropriated as a depository for such imperishable articles of household consumption as are in continual request, and may be laid up, when purchased in quantities,—at times when cheapest,—most in season, or best—to be ready at hand when wanted.
☞ Let every thing, not only here, but all over the house, be kept in its proper place, applied to its proper use, and replaced when worn out or destroyed.
N. B. To save the trouble of referring to different places, for the several methods of storing or preserving many articles which are proper to be kept, we shall insert under this head every thing of this description that may occur to us.
Soap will be the better for keeping—indeed, it should not be used when newly made. The cakes should be cut with a wire or string, into oblong squares, and laid up, on a dry shelf, a little distance apart, and across each other, so as to admit the air betwixt them, to harden it.—This method will save one third. Note,—If dried fast, soap will crack and break when wetted.
Candles and soap made in cold weather, are best; and when the price of these articles are likely to be high, a reasonable stock of both should be laid in.—Candles, if kept packed in a chest, will be the better for keeping eight or ten months, and may be kept well, if necessary, for two years.
Starch should be bought when flour is cheap, and may be kept in a dry warm place, if closely covered, as long as may be necessary.
Loaf Sugars should be kept tied up in paper, and hung up in a dry place. Brown sugars should be kept covered up, and in a moderately dry place.
Sweetmeats, Preserves, &c. must be carefully kept from the air, and in a very dry place.
Teas, Coffee, Chocolate, Dried fruits, and generally, all kinds of Grocery and Condiments require to be kept dry and free from air.
The various kinds of seeds and rice, pearl-barley, oatmeal, &c. must be kept in a dry place, and be covered close, to preserve them from insects.
Bread is best kept in an earthern pan with a cover. A loaf should not be cut till it is a day old. The bread that is cut unnecessarily in the parlour, should be eaten at the second table before more is cut.
Writing and other papers, that are constantly wanted, should be bought by the ream or bundle, and kept in a dry place.
Apples should be spread, separately, on clean dry straw, on a dry upper floor, and care must be taken to preserve them from frost.—The Americans throw a clean canvas cloth over them, which will answer the purpose.
Pears should be hung up, singly, by the stalk in a dry place.
Grapes should be gathered before they are ripe, and may also be preserved hung up in single bunches the same way;—or they may be kept in saw-dust, in boxes with covers, to exclude the air—Every bunch being laid apart.
Oranges and Lemons, if bought when cheapest, may be preserved a long time, packed in fine, dried sand, with their stems upwards, and kept from the influence of the air.
Fresh Meat, Poultry, Fish, &c. should be kept in a cool, airy place.
All salted and dried meats, hams, tongues, &c. should be tied up in strong paper, and must be kept in a cold, dry place, (not in the kitchen) else they will become musty and rancid.
Green Vegetables should be kept on a damp stone floor, and excluded from the air by a damp cloth thrown over them.
Carrots, Parsnips, and Beet-roots, must be kept in layers of dry sand for winter use. Neither these nor potatoes should be washed till wanted.
Potatoes must be carefully covered, to protect them from frost, in winter.
Onions should be tied in traces, and hung up in a cold dry place. If the root of each onion be seared, it can never grow.
Parsley should be cut close to the root, and dried in a warm room.
Truffles, Morels, &c. must be kept in bags in a dry place.
A bag should be kept to save all the waste rags; this will not only be economical, but will prevent litter.
☞ For the management of savoury and sweet herbs, see Vegetables, p. 87.
THE STILL-ROOM MAID.
The business of this servant is to wait on and assist the housekeeper; not only in the distillation of aromatic waters, spirits, and oils,—in the making of essences, perfumery, &c. but also, in the making of pickles, preserves, pastry, and confectionary; in making coffee, &c. to go up stairs; in washing up the china; in the management and arrangement of the store-room; and whatever else she may have to employ her in.
[Wages from eight to twelve guineas per annum.]
THE ART OF CARVING.
The art of carving is an useful and elegant accomplishment; and, according to the fashion of the present day, cannot be too well understood by the Heads of Families. It may best be acquired by observation and practice; and to Young Ladies who can attend to the example of their parents, the following plain and familiar instructions may not be unacceptable.—A previous knowledge of the conformation of the several parts, and the peculiar nature of the article to be carved, will, with due attention, render the business easy, and it would be still more so, if the loins, breasts, and necks of mutton, lamb, and veal, were to be properly jointed and divided, before they are sent home.
The master and mistress of the family, who do The honours of the table, when dinner is announced, will see, of course, that the upper places are taken by the married ladies of the highest quality that are then present; the dowagers or widows next, and lastly, the unmarried ladies; all, nearly according to their respective ages. The gentlemen will be seated according to the same etiquette, which is perfectly understood by the fashionable world.11
Beef.—The Surloin. This joint is brought to table with the skin side upwards—Cut off the outside, in the direction of the ribs, quite down to the bone, and take off slice after slice of a moderate thickness, in the same direction.—Or, you may cut through the middle of the sirloin. Give a little of the soft fat with each slice, which will be found covering the roll, on the inside. Give also, a little of the roll, when preferred, as it is short-grained and tender. To get at this and the fat, turn the joint up, upon the chine-bone, and cut it across the ribs.
The Ribs are to be carved exactly in the same way.
The Edge-bone or isch (hip) bone. Cut off a thick outside slice from the upper surface, the whole length, horizontally, and follow the cut. The delicious soft fat, resembling marrow, will be found at the back of the bone, and the hard fat may be taken, in thin, horizontal slices, from the edge of the joint. The upper part of this joint is the richest and best.
The Buttock is to be carved in the same way.
The Breast-cut.—Cut off thin slices, either parallel with the ribs, or across. The fat on the upper side is firm and gristly, that on the under side soft, and more delicate; therefore offer that which is best liked.
Veal.—The Fillet. This is the joint similar to a round of beef. Cut off a slice from the upper surface, evenly, as from a round or edge-bone of beef, and this outside is often preferred. The next slices should be cut thin and smoothly. With every slice give a little fat, and some of the stuffing, which lies under the flap.
The Breast. Separate the ribs from the brisket, across, where the bones are broken, and again, the gristly part of the breast-cut from the ribs, in the same direction. Give some of the gristly part, with a bone of the ribs or neck, and a little of the sweetbread, cut across the middle, to each person.
The Calf’s-head. Every part of this joint is rich and delicious. Cut it lengthwise, from the nose to the neck, passing the knife through the flesh under the eye, quite to the bone, all the way. The throat sweetbread lies in the thick part of the neck end, and delicious short slices of it may be taken off from the lower side, crosswise, to be given with the former. The eye is esteemed a great delicacy and may be taken out with the point of a knife, and divided into two parts. Some fine lean will be found under the jaw-bone, when taken off, and the palate in the lower or under part of the head is deemed a dainty. Both sides of the head are to be carved alike. A part of the tongue and brains, which are usually served up in a separate dish, with egg sauce, must be given to each person.
Mutton.—The Shoulder. This joint should be sent to table with the back upwards, and with paper twisted round the shank. When properly roasted, it is very full of gravy, and has many nice parts. The first cut should be made in the thin, hollow part, and several slices may be taken thence. When that is all cut away, some fine slices may be taken from both sides of the ridge of the blade-bone, cutting straight up the back from the thick end towards the shank. The under side affords several nice cuts of fat and lean intermixed, and is full of gravy. Some prefer the jelly part near the knuckle;—the lean on the under side of the blade-bone, is the most tender. The fat lies in the round prominent part or flap, opposite the hollow part of the shoulder, which is cut lengthwise and a thin bit of this should be given to each person.—A shoulder of mutton over roasted is spoiled.
The Leg. When boiled, it should be served up lying on its back; but when roasted, with the back upwards. Cut into the hollow part a little distant from the knuckle, through the pope’s-eye, quite to the bone, and take out thin deep slices towards the thickest part. The back of the leg affords some nice slices at the thick end, which must be cut out the long way of the joint.—Slices of fat may also be taken from the under side, or back part of the leg, in the same direction. Some prefer the knuckle part, which, though dry, is full of jelly and very nutricious. The cramp-bone forms a slight prominence at the back of the leg, near the shank, and may be cut out by passing the knife round it. As this is a heavy joint, some writing paper should be wrapped round the shank, to enable the carver the better to turn it up, with his left hand.
The Haunch, is to be carved in the same manner as venison.
The Saddle, is the two loins together. Cut out long thin slices on each side of the chine-bone, from the tail to the end. If any person like a part of the tail, it may be readily divided, the joints being about an inch apart. Rich gravy is found in the cut along the chine-bone, where the incision has been made.
The Loin may be carved the same way; or it may be cut the other way, in the direction of the bones.
Lamb.—The Fore-quarter. Separate the shoulder from the ribs or breast, (by some called the crust or scoven,) taking care not to leave the bones bare. Then squeeze half a lemon or Seville orange, rub a slice of butter, and sprinkle a little pepper and salt over the ribs, and replace the shoulder for a few moments; after which, put the shoulder on another dish; and proceed to divide the neck from the breast, where the bones have been previously broken; then separate the gristly part from the breast, the whole length, and give a little of the gristle with each bone of the breast or neck, as may be chosen. If any part of the breast is to be put by to be eaten cold, let it be sprinkled while hot, with chopped parsley. All parts of young lamb are nice, but the shoulder of a fore-quarter is the least approved. It is to be carved as mutton.
The Hind-quarter, is usually divided into the leg and loin, and is to be carved as mutton. The close firm flesh about the knuckle is reckoned the best.
Pork.—The Leg, whether roasted or boiled, is sent to table with the back upwards, like a leg of mutton roasted: it is to be carved as mutton.
A Ham may be carved three several ways; viz. The first and most common way is to cut off the hock, and then to take off thin slices, in a circular manner, round the bone, towards the thick part and proceed as with venison. This is the most economical way.
The second way is to cut a round hole in the top of the ham with a sharp pointed knife, and to enlarge the circle by cutting out thin slices. This is a good way, as it keeps the meat moist, and preserves the gravy.
The other way is, to cut across, near the middle of the ham, quite down to the bone, and then to take off thin slices each way.
Tongue.—A tongue is to be cut across towards the thickest end; slices taken from that part, both ways, are the most tender and juicy; towards the tip of the tongue, the meat is hardest and dryest. For the fat and kernel, cut off a slice from the lower side of the root.
Sucking Pig.—The head and collar is usually cut off, and the carcase slit down the back into two equal parts; the head being also divided and laid at each end, and the ears on each side. But if the pig be sent up whole, before any one be helped, the shoulders and legs should be separated from the body, and the ribs divided into two or more parts; the shoulders may each be divided into two or more parts, also; and nice slices may be taken from the gammon and fleshy parts. The ribs are very delicious, but the collar and neck are most esteemed; the chaps are also much approved by many.
Venison.—The Haunch. First make a deep incision across, down to the bone, towards the knuckle end, to let out the gravy; then turn the broad end towards you, and take off thinnish deep slices, lengthwise, from the cross cut to the end. The fat, which is the most delicious part, lies, as in a shoulder of mutton, in the round prominent part, which, when the broad end is towards you, will be on the left side. Give some of this, and also some of the gravy, with each slice.
Hare.—The best and readiest way to cut up a hare, is to put the point of the knife under the point of the shoulder, and cut all the way down to the rump, on both sides of the back at equal distances from the back-bone, dividing the body into three parts; the middle or back may then be cut across the spine, into four or more pieces. These are by far the most tender and delicate, and the fullest of gravy. The shoulders or wings must be taken off in a circular direction, and the legs may be easily separated from the belly. The shoulders and legs may each be divided. The pieces of the back, and the fleshy parts of the shoulders and legs, should be given with a spoonful of the stuffing and gravy to those most respected. This method can only be practised when the Hare is young. If it be old, do not endeavour to divide it lengthwise, but put the knife between the leg and back, and give it a turn inwards, at the joint, which you must try to hit.—A nice cut or two may then be taken from each side of the back-bone;—then divide the back into parts, and take off the wings, which are called the sportsman’s pieces. When all are helped, cut off the head, and separate the ears, close to the roots, which some may approve; then with your knife divide the upper from the lower jaw, and laying the upper one flat on your plate, enter the point of your knife in the centre near the back of the skull, and divide it in two. The head and brains are liked by some.
Rabbit.—A rabbit is to be carved as a hare in the latter way; but it being smaller, the body may be divided into fewer parts, and the head, the ears having been taken off, may be given, to any one who likes it.
Goose.—A goose, fowl, turkey, pheasant, and partridge, are to be cut up nearly alike. First cut off the apron of the goose, and pour into the body a glass of port wine, and the gravy, well mixed with a large teaspoonful of ready made mustard; then turn the neck towards you, and cut the whole breast into long slices quite down to the bone, and take them off; turn the goose upon one side, and proceed to take off the leg, by putting the fork through the small end of the bone, and pressing it close to the body, which will raise the leg from the body and shew the direction in which the knife may be passed, in order to separate it; this may then be done by turning it back, but if it be an old bird, it will require some strength. To take off the wing, pass the fork into the small end of the pinion, and press it close to the body, then enter the knife at the point of the wing, and divide the joint (which requires some practice to hit cleverly) and separate it from the side. Next take off the merry-thought, at the neck end, across the body, and where it joins the body, on each side, you will find the joint of the neck bones, then put in the knife, and pass it the longest part of the bone, when you will lift it up and break it off from the breast bone, to which it is attached. All parts being thus separated from the carcase, divide the breast from the back by cutting through the tender ribs on each side from one end to the other. Then lay the back upwards, fix your fork under the rump, and pressing the edge of your knife hard across the back, lift up the rump, and the body will divide into two parts. The rump part may then be divided into three, cutting it lengthwise through the bones on each side of the back, and taking off the side-bones. It is not always necessary to cut up the whole goose, at once, but as you proceed, the breast may be distributed, the fleshy parts of the wings, when disjointed from the pinions, and the thigh parts of the legs, (the drum sticks being taken off), may next be given, remembering to draw out the sage and onions, gravy, &c. from the inside, and give a spoonful on each plate. The neck-bone and merry-thought are approved by some, and others approve different parts of the carcase, which are very savoury.
A Green Goose must be cut up the same way; and the best parts are the breast, and the gristle at the lower end of it.
Fowl.—Fowls, whether roasted or boiled, are to be cut up alike. The best way is to take the bird on your plate, and sticking your fork into the breast, upright, cut of slices, down the breast on each side, as long as you can; then proceed to take off the legs, by passing the knife between the legs and the body from the upper part of the thigh towards the rump. Next take off the wings by entering your knife at the point of the shoulder, and with your fork lift up the pinion and drawing the wing towards you, by which means it will separate very nicely without cutting. After this, take off the merry-thought, the neck-bones, and all the remaining parts, as described in the goose. The prime parts of a fowl are the wings, breast, and merry-thought: the legs are coarse dry, and of a darker colour, except those of a chick, which are full of gravy and most esteemed. The drum-sticks should be cut off from the legs of the fowl at the joint, when given.
Turkey.—A turkey is to be dissected as a fowl or goose, but it has no merry-thought. The white meats of a Turkey are best. The gizzard is sometimes scored in different directions, and when salted and peppered, it is sent down to be broiled; is divided into several parts, and sent round to the company as a bonne bouche.
Pheasant.—This bird is to be carved the same way as a fowl, first cutting off the head. The best parts of the pheasant are the breast, wings, and merry-thought; but the leg has a higher flavour. The head is sometimes preferred, because of the brains.
Partridge.—Partridges are to be carved as fowls.—The prime parts, as of nearly all birds, are the white meats; viz. the wings (the tip of which is reckoned the most delicious morsel,) the breast, and merry-thought.
Pigeons.—Pigeons are generally divided into two parts, to do which there are several ways; the most fashionable of which is, to cut from the top of the leg on each side, quite through and across the body to the breast bone.
Fish,—in general, requires but little carving.
A Cod’s head. The thick fleshy part on the back and shoulders, close to the head, is most esteemed, but many parts of the jowl are very delicious, particularly those about the jaw-bones, which consist of a fine jelly. The tongue, palate, and firm parts about the back-bone on the shoulders are also considered as dainties.
Take off a large piece across the shoulders, close to the head, and quite through to the back-bone, this will lay bare the sound, which is under the back-bone, some of which should be taken out with a spoon, and given with every slice. Care must be taken to preserve the beautifully fine flakes of this fish entire.
Salmon and all other fish that have a short grain, should be cut with the slices the long way of the fish, and not across. The belly part is the richest and most esteemed of salmon, but the head, and particularly the jowl, afford many rich and delicate bits, which are much prized.
DIRECTIONS FOR MARKETING. 12
[We presume that the following will be found to be the best instructions on this important subject that have ever yet appeared in print.]
BUTCHERS’ MEAT.
General observations respecting it.
☞ The best of every kind of provision is cheapest, affords most nourishment, and goes farthest.
As this is the most nourishing of all animal food, and constitutes a considerable portion of our constant aliment, a knowledge, not only of the nature and properties of the several kinds of animals destined for our use, but also of the manner in which they have been bred and fed, would be very essential if to be obtained, as it would enable us to judge of their wholesomeness, and their fitness for our healthful support and nourishment.
The flesh of cattle, of all kinds, fatted in confined and filthy places, on oil-cakes, or rank and half-decayed vegetables, should be rejected, as unfit for use. On the contrary, those animals which have been bred and pastured in open situations, on high lands, extensive downs, dry commons, heaths, and large enclosures, where the air is pure, and particularly where the grass is short and sweet, and where they require much exercise to obtain their sustenance, have their juices pure, their flavour excellent, and the texture of their flesh delicate, nutritive, and wholesome. Hence the superiority of the Welch and South Down mutton, the Scotch and Welch beef, &c. This fact is clearly evinced in the superior qualities that venison, and the flesh of all wild animals possess over that of tame ones.
Buttocks of beef, fillets of veal, and legs of mutton and lamb, as they have most solid meat and least bone, in proportion, are best for large families.
The most economical way for marketing, is to buy what roasting and boiling pieces you want in one lot. Butchers will sell quantities, thus assorted, much cheaper than they will sell single joints; and prime roasting joints, when bought alone, are always charged extravagantly.
Beef and mutton, of a proper age, is more easy of digestion, and more nutritious, than veal and lamb. The same remark holds with respect to pork; for though young pigs are fat and luscious, yet they are not so nutritive as those of more mature age. The heart and other viscera of animals are nutritious, but hard to digest. Pork is a strong meat, but that which is fed at dairies, is mildest and best. Fat meat is not so easy of digestion as the flesh of well fed animals, though not so fat. The flesh of old animals is dry and hard of digestion, and affords but little nourishment.
BEEF.
Instructions for choosing it.
An ox is in its prime, for food, at five or six years old.
Beef is never out of season, but it is in the greatest perfection in November, December, and January.
The lean of the finest ox-beef, if of a proper age, has a fine smooth grain, it is of a bright or carnation red, feels tender, and appears to be marled or intermixed with fat. The fat parts are firm, of a cream colour, and rather white than yellow. This latter distinction is of importance, because, if the beef be old, the fat will be yellow and skinny; and if the ox has been unnaturally fed, or in a confined place, and particularly if it has been fed with oil-cake, it will be very yellow, soft, flabby, and greasy. On the other hand, if the beef be too young, the fat will be white, almost like mutton fat, and the lean will be of a pale colour.
The grain of cow-beef is closer than that of the ox, and the lean is of a darker red.
Heifer-beef has all the appearances and qualities of good ox-beef, except that the grain of the lean is of a finer texture.
Bull-beef is coarser and redder than any other, the fat hard and skinny, and it has a strong, rank smell.
The Joints of Beef, according to the London method of cutting.
The best joints are the sirloin, rump, edge-bone, buttock, and the five or six fore-ribs; and the thin-flank, the sticking-piece, the leg, shin, and cheek, are the worst.
VEAL.
Instructions for choosing it.
Veal is best and cheapest from March to July.
Veal ought to be fine in the grain, firm, white, and fat. The leg bone should be small. If fresh, the eyes will be full and bright, the flesh not clammy but dry, and the large vein of the shoulder of a bright red. The kidney taints soonest, and if that be sweet, and neither soft nor slimy, the whole calf is fresh. On the contrary, if any part of the flesh be green or yellow, or feels flabby, it is stale. The fillet of a cow-calf is preferable on account of the udder, but the meat of the bull-calf is generally firmest, whitest, and best, when dressed. The finest calves have the smallest kidneys.
The Joints of Veal.
A shoulder is the fore-knuckle and blade-bone together; and a leg is the fillet and hind-knuckle together.
The best end of the loin, the fillet, and the best end of the breast, are the choicest pieces: the knuckle, and scrag end of the neck, are the worst.
MUTTON.
Instructions for choosing it.
Mutton is best from Christmas to Midsummer.
When, if in its prime, (that is about four years of age,) it will feel tender when pinched with the finger and thumb, but if older, it will feel harder and fibrous. The grain of the lean should be a fine deep red, the colour bright, and the fat firm and white. Wether mutton is the best flavoured, and may be known by a prominent lump of fat at the edge of the broadest part. Ewe mutton is paler than wether mutton, is of a finer texture and of less value; ram mutton is strong flavoured, high coloured, and its fat is spungy.
The mutton of the small Welch sheep, which are driven up, and fatted on Banstead Heath, and the mutton bred and fed on the South Downs, in Sussex, are the most esteemed in London. At Bath, the short-shanked Dorsetshire, and the Lansdown mutton are most in request; in Yorkshire and the northern counties, the Moor mutton; and in Norfolk and Suffolk the long-shanked is most approved; but the sheep bred in the Fens and deep lands of Lincolnshire, and that neighbourhood, are large, coarse-grained, and ill-flavoured.—Mutton tastes strong of the coat in May and June, or just before shearing.
The Joints of Mutton.
Lamb, like veal, is fresh when the eyes are full and bright, and the vein in the neck is of a fine blue colour; but if it be green or yellow, or if there be a faint smell about the kidney, it is stale. The earliest house-lamb, in London, is from the Dorsetshire ewes, which are sold in great numbers at Weyhill-Fair, on the 10th of October, whence they are driven towards London, quite forward, frequently dropping their lambs on the road. This comes in at or before Christmas, and is generally cut into quarters. Grass-lamb comes into season about Easter, and when large and plentiful is cut up in joints, like mutton.
PORK.
Directions for choosing it.
The rind of all pork should be thin, and if young and properly fed, the lean will break when pinched, and will be smooth and of a delicate white; the fat will be white and fine, and the joints will look blue; but if the rind be tough and loose, or thick and hard, and the joints look red, it is old. If the flesh be clammy it is stale. The knuckle part taints first. When measles are seen in the fat, the meat is unwholesome, and should not be eaten. A pig is in its prime at two years old.
The Joints of Pork.
The rind of good bacon is always thin, the fat firm and white, or rather inclined to a pink tinge, and the lean is of a bright red, tender and adhering close to the bone. If there be any appearance of yellow, it is rusty. The Wiltshire and Hampshire bacon is best, but the Yorkshire is much esteemed. Irish bacon is, in general, bad; but this article is now so re-manufactured in London, as to resemble, in appearance, the most beautiful Wiltshire bacon.
Hams.—The Westphalia or bear’s hams, are the best; but the Westmorland, Wiltshire, and Yorkshire are the most desirable, of the English curing. Choose these latter short in the shank; and to know whether they are good, thrust a picked-pointed knife under the bone, and if it comes out clean and sweet, the ham is good, otherwise it is not.
GAME.
Venison is chosen by its fat, which should be thick, clear, and bright. A knife stuck in under the shoulder or shank will shew whether it be sweet. If venison looks green, or approaching to black, it is stale.
The Joints of Venison are only four; viz. The haunch, neck, breast, and shoulder.
Hares.—The claws of a young hare are smooth and sharp, the ears are tender and will easily tear, and the cleft of the lip is narrow; but the claws of an old hare are blunt and rugged, the ears dry and tough, and the cleft of the lip is wide, and the haunch is thick.—If fresh the body will be stiff. A hare is best when kept ten days or a fortnight, which, in favourable weather, may be done; but it should always be dressed as soon as it begins to bleed at the nose.
Leverets may be distinguished from hares, by their having a knob or small bone on the fore leg, near the foot, which hares have not. Leverets will not keep, therefore should be dressed as soon as possible.
Rabbits.—The age of Rabbits, whether wild or tame, may be known by nearly the same rules as that of Hares: observe also, that if old, their hairs are intermixed with the wool, their claws will be limber, and their flesh, instead of being white, will have a blue cast, and be slimy.
POULTRY.
(Poultry is in the greatest perfection when most plentiful. It is generally dearest from February to Midsummer, and cheapest in September.)
Geese.—The bill and feet of a young Goose will be yellow, the breast fat and plump, and the fat white and soft; but if old, the bill and feet will be red, and the fat yellow and skinny. If fresh, the feet will be limber, but if stale, stiff and dry. Green-Geese are in season in April, May, and June. They should be scalded. Stubble-Geese come into season in September.
Turkeys.—Choose cock birds. The very best have black legs, but the white legged birds are nearly as fine. If young their legs will be smooth, and the spurs of the cock will be very short and tender; but if old, the legs will be rough, and the spurs long and hard, unless filed or cut off. But the best criterion, by which to judge of both Turkeys and Fowls with certainty is, that the toes and bills, if they be young, will be soft and pliable, but will feel hard and stiff, if old. A Turkey should be kept without meat thirty-six hours before it is killed, and should be hung up in its feathers a week before it is dressed.
Fowls.—Young Pullets are in their prime before they begin to lay; but Hen Fowls are best when full of eggs, at which time the vent is soft. The comb, skin, and legs of old Hens are rough. A good Capon has a large rump, and much fat at the shoulders, and its comb is pale.
To know whether any kind of Fowl in its feathers is fit to dress, pull the feathers off the vent very gently, and if they come off easily, it ought to be dressed immediately.
Ducks and Ducklings.—These may be chosen by the same rules as Turkeys and Fowls; but the bills and feet of wild Ducks are smaller and redder than those of tame ones; their plumage too is different. Young wild Ducks will not keep. All young Ducks should be scalded, as that sweetens them, and improves their flavour.
[Norfolk is famous for Turkeys, Geese, and Ducks; Surrey and Sussex for Fowls and Ducklings. The Dorking Fowls are in high estimation in London.]
Pigeons.—These birds should be both young and fresh, and when they are so, they are fat and full at the vent; their legs are limber and of a dusky white: young Pigeons have also a yellow down round their necks and heads. If old, their legs and feet are large, harsh, and red, and the vent discoloured and flabby. Tame Pigeons are best, as wood Pigeons are harder and darker coloured.
WILD FOWL.
To judge whether these are young and fresh, observe the rules given above for tame Fowls; recollect also that these birds should be fat, and when they are so, they will be hard at the vent; if stale, the skin will peel off when rubbed with the finger.
Pheasants.—Cock Pheasants are best. Hens are excellent when full of eggs.
Woodcocks.—These are fine, high-flavoured birds, and when in the best condition, they feel thick and firm, and have a vein of fat down the sides of the breast. When stale they run at the nostrils. Land Rails and Snipes are chosen by these rules.
Partridges.—The yellow legs of young partridges become blue when old, and their bills changed from yellow to a dark hue.
Quails.—These come chiefly from France and Germany, but the finest and best that are sold in London, come from Cambridgeshire, and are fed by the poulterers with herbs, seed, or boiled bread and milk. They are so extremely delicate, in feeding, that two of them will not eat out of the same trough.
Teal is of a beautiful plumage, and very delicate to eat. Their bills and feet are black, and are shaped like those of a Duck.
Ruffs and Rees are chiefly found in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire; and in April or May, when most in season, they are a perfect lump of fat. If poor, when caught, they should be fattened with white bread and milk boiled, given them in separate troughs.
Moor Game, and even Grouse, may be kept good a long time. Old birds of all kinds will keep longest, and will be the better for keeping; but young birds should be dressed soon.
Small Birds, of every description, should be dressed immediately.
FISH.
General Rules for choosing it.
(The price of fish depends on the supply; and it will often be found, that one kind of fish, equally as good and seasonable as another, may be bought for much less money; therefore, never buy at an extravagant price.)
When fish is fresh, it is firm, bright, and stiff; the gills are of a lively red, hard to open, and smell sweet; and the eyes are full and clear. If stale, the whole fish, and particularly the gills and fins, will always be flabby and limber, the gills will be pale, and the eyes sunk and dull. By these rules alone, good fish may be distinguished from bad; but besides these, some kinds of fish have other distinguishing peculiarities, which are as follow; viz.
Sturgeon.—The grain of the flesh of a fine Sturgeon is smooth and very white, interspersed with blue veins. The skin is soft and tender, and its smell is very pleasant. When the veins and gristles are brown or yellow, instead of blue, or the skin is hard and dry, the fish is not good.
Caviare.—This is the roe of the female Sturgeon. It should be taken out and beaten flat, then sprinkled with salt and dried, first in the sun and air, and afterwards in an oven, till it becomes very dry and of a reddish brown colour. Thus prepared, it is a fine relish; it is to be eaten with oil and vinegar.
Turbot, when good, is thick, firm, and plump; and the nose, and fins all round the belly, tinged with a pink colour; but if it has lost this beautiful tinge, or if the belly be changed from a yellowish white to a blueish cast, the fish is either stale or poor, or both.
Soles are to be chosen by these rules, particularly as to the pink tinge round their bellies and under their noses.
Cod Fish should be thick at the neck, having the gills red, the flesh very white, firm, hard, and dear, and the eyes bright.
Haddock are to be chosen by these rules. The shortest fish are the best.
Salmon should be chosen for its small head and thick neck; its scales should be bright, and its gills and flesh of a fine red colour. The Thames and Severn Salmon are mostly esteemed.
Skate, Maids, and Thornbacks are all of one species; they ought to be white and thick. The two latter should be kept a day, or perhaps two, to make them tender, and Skate may be kept longer. The maiden Skate and the young male, or Thornback, are the best; but large, old Skate, is generally coarse and rank.
Flounders, Plaice, &c. should be stiff and firm, with bright, full eyes. If flabby, these and all other kinds of fish are certainly stale. The Thames Flounders are reckoned best, in London, because they may be had alive, or nearly so, and they are always best when dressed as soon as caught.
Herrings, Pilchards, Whitings, Sprats, &c.—These may be classed together. The largest are the best. Their gills should be of a fine red, their fins stiff, their eyes bright, and their flesh, when best, is bright and firm. As the Herrings emigrate, in immense shoals, from the northern regions, they are in the greatest perfection on their first arrival on the coasts of Scotland, the North of Ireland, and the Isle of Man. On the coast of the German Ocean also, even so far south as Yarmouth, they are taken in great quantities, remarkably fat and fine, and full of spawn; but before they reach the southern coast of England, they become poor and thin, and are then known by the denomination of Shotten-Herrings.
Mackerel look beautifully bright when first caught. These and Whitings should be dressed as soon as possible.
FRESH WATER FISH.
Pike and Jack are taken in rivers; they are very dry eating, and require much seasoning and sauce.
Carp, Tench, and Perch, are best eaten as soon as caught; the latter is not so much esteemed as the two former.
Smelts, when fresh, have a fine bright appearance, firm flesh, and a fragrant smell, like a cucumber.
Gudgeons, Roach, and Dace, and most other river fish, must be chosen by the rules already given.
BUTTER, CHEESE, and EGGS.
Butter should be chosen by the taste and smell.—The best fresh butter is the Epping, and next the Cambridge; sometimes the potted weekly Dorset is very good. Of tub butter, the Welch is best, the Dutch next, and the Irish worst. In examining tub-butter, and particularly the Irish, look at and smell to the outside next the cask, which is often white in appearance like tallow, and quite rank in smell.
Cheese. Of the common kinds, Cheshire, North Wiltshire and double Gloucester, are the best. Cheese of the first making, in May, is usually brought to Market in August. Factors have a pernicious practice of sticking brass pins into cheese, which gives it the appearance of blue mould and old age. That cheese which has a smooth, moist coat, is generally good. Spanish arnatto is often used to give the rind a beautiful red colour.
Eggs.—If fresh, will feel warm when the tongue is applied to the biggest end; but if stale, it will be cold. An egg, when quite fresh, will sink at once when put into cold water; but if rotten, it will swim.
VEGETABLES.
N.B. Vegetables are cheapest soon after they come into full season.
| Names. | When best. | Names. | When best. |
| Artichokes | July to October. | Endive | June & all Winter. |
| Asparagus | May to July. | Leeks | Sept. & all Winter. |
| Beans, Windsor, &c. | Midsummer to September. | Lettuces | April & all Summer. |
| ——– French | Midsumr. & onwd. | Onions | June to November. |
| ——– Scarlet | July to October. | Parsley | All the year. |
| Beet-root | All the year. | Parsnips | Aug. & all Winter. |
| Borcole, or | November and all | Peas (green) | June to September. |
| Scotch Kale | the Winter. | Potatoes | May & all the year. |
| Brocoli | October and ditto. | Radishes | March to July. |
| Cabbage | May & all Summer. | Small Salad | All the year. |
| ———– red | July to September. | Salsafy and | |
| ———– Plants | All the year. | Scarzonera | July and August. |
| Carrots | May till Winter. | Sea Kale | April and May. |
| Cauliflowers | June to August. | Spinach (sprg.) | March to July. |
| Celery | June till March. | Do. (Winter) | Winter and Spring. |
| Corn Sallad | May to July. | Turnips | May to September. |
| Cucumbers | June to September. | Turnip Tops. | February to May. |
All vegetables are best if dressed as soon as gathered; and are in their greatest perfection just before they begin to flower.
Most Articles for Pickling will be in their prime in July and August; but walnuts not later than the middle of July; and mushrooms and white cabbage in September and October.
Herbs, of all kinds, should be gathered in a dry day; and when the roots are cut off, and the herbs are perfectly well cleaned from dust, &c. they should be divided into small bunches and dried very quick by the heat of a stove, or in a Dutch oven before a common fire, rather than by the heat of the sun, taking care that they be not burnt. When dry put them into bags, and hang them up in a dry place; or pound them and sift them through a hair sieve, and keep the powder in bottles closely stopped.
Sweet and Savory Herbs are best in season from May to August, according to their kinds.
The flavour and fragrance of fresh herbs are much finer than of those that are dried.
PASTRY, &c.
Here follow a great variety of the most useful and approved receipts in domestic economy, which are chiefly appropriate to the Housekeeper’s department; consisting of directions for making pastry, confectionary, preserves, pickles, perfumery, cosmetics, british wines, various articles of distillation, family medicine, and many miscellaneous receipts of general utility.
OBSERVATIONS ON PASTRY.
An adept in making pastry, never leaves any part of it adhering to the board used in making it. It is best when rolled on marble or slate. In hot weather the butter should be put in cold water to make it firm; and if the pastry be made early in the morning, and preserved from the air till baked, it will be the better. Salt butter, if good and well washed, makes a fine flaky crust.
Preserved fruit for pastry need not be baked; but the crust should be baked in a tin shape, or on a tin and cut out according to taste.
ON MAKING CAKES.
Currants should be nicely washed, dried in a cloth, and then set before the fire. If not quite dry they will make the cake heavy. The cake will be the lighter if a dust of flour be thrown on the currants and then shaken.
Eggs should be beaten very long, the whites and the yolks apart, after which, they must be strained.—Sugar should be rubbed to a powder, on a clean board, and sifted through a fine hair or lawn sieve. Lemon-peel should be pared quite thin, and beaten, with a little sugar, in a marble mortar, to a paste; and then mixed with a little wine or cream, so as to mix easily with the other ingredients. After all the articles are put together in the pan, they should be thoroughly beaten for a long while, as the lightness of the cake greatly depends on their being well incorporated. Yeast, in either black or white plum cakes, makes them require less butter and eggs, and yet be equally light and rich. The dough when made should be set to rise by the fire. If the oven be not quick the batter will not rise, and the cake will be heavy: if you think it too quick, put some paper over the cake to prevent its being burnt.
1. A RICH PLUM CAKE.
Take one pound of fresh butter, one pound of sugar, one pound and a half of flour, two pounds of currants, a glass of brandy, one pound of sweatments, two ounces of sweet almonds, ten eggs, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon.
Melt the butter to a cream, and put in the sugar. Stir it till quite light, adding the allspice, and pounded cinnamon; in a quarter of an hour take the yolks of the eggs, and work them in, two or three at a time; and the whites of the same must by this time be beaten into a strong snow quite ready to work in; as the paste must not stand to chill the butter, or it will be heavy, work in the whites gradually; then add the orange-peel, lemon, and citron, cut in fine stripes, and the currants, which must be mixed in well, with the sweet almonds. Then add the sifted flour and glass of brandy. Bake this cake in a tin hoop in a hot oven for three hours, and put twelve sheets of paper under it to keep it from burning.
2. A GOOD PLAIN CAKE.
The following is a receipt for making a good plain cake, to be given to children, at breakfast, instead of buttered bread.
Take as much dough as will make a quartern-loaf (either made at home, or procured at the baker’s), work into this a quarter of a pound of butter, a quarter of a pound of moist sugar, and a handful of caraway seeds. When well worked together, pull into pieces the size of a golden pippin, and work it together again. This must be done three times or it will be in lumps, and heavy when baked.
3. ICEING FOR CAKES.
Put one pound of fine-sifted, treble refined sugar into a basin, and the whites of three new-laid eggs; beat the sugar and eggs up well with a silver spoon until it becomes very white and thick; dust the cake over with flour, and then brush it off, by way of taking the grease from the outside, which prevents the iceing from running; put it on smooth with a palette knife, and garnish according to fancy: any ornaments should be put on immediately; for if the iceing gets dry, it will not stick on. Set it in a cool oven to harden.
4. A RICH SEED CAKE.
Take a pound and a quarter of flour well dried, a pound of butter, a pound of loaf sugar, beat and sifted, eight eggs and two ounces of caraway seeds, one grated nutmeg, and its weight in cinnamon. Beat the butter into a cream, put in the sugar, beat the whites of the eggs and the yolks separately, then mix them with the butter and sugar. Beat in the flour, spices, and seed, a little before sending it away. Bake it two hours in a quick oven.
5. A PLAIN POUND CAKE.
Beat one pound of butter in an earthen pan until it is like a fine thick cream, then beat in nine whole eggs till quite light. Put in a glass of brandy, a little lemon peel, shred fine, then work in a pound and a quarter of flour; put it into the hoop or pan and bake it for an hour. A pound plum cake is made the same with putting one pound and a half of clean washed currants and half a pound of candied lemon peel.
6. RATAFIA CAKES.
Beat half a pound each of sweet and bitter almonds in fine orange, rose, or ratafia water, mix half a pound of fine pounded and sifted sugar with the same, add the whites of four eggs well beaten to it, set it over a moderate fire in a preserving-pan. Stir it one way until it is pretty hot, and when a little cool form it into small rolls, and cut into thin cakes. Shake some flour lightly on them, give each a light tap, and put them on sugar papers, sift a little sugar on them, and put them into a thorough slack oven.
7. WIGGS.
Put half a pint of warm milk to three quarters of a pound of fine flour: mix in it two or three spoonsful of light yeast. Cover it up, and set it before the fire an hour, in order to make it rise. Work into it four ounces each of sugar and butter, make it into cakes, or wiggs, with as little flour as possible, and a few caraway seeds, and bake them quick.
8. BATH CAKES.
Mix well together, half a pound of butter, one pound of flour, five eggs, and a cupful of yeast. Set the whole before the fire to rise, which effected, add a quarter of a pound of fine powered sugar, an ounce of caraways well mixed in, and roll the paste out into little cakes. Bake them on tins.
9. SHREWSBURY CAKES.
Mix half a pound of butter well beat like cream, and the same weight of flour, one egg, six ounces of beaten and sifted loaf sugar, and half an ounce of caraway seeds. Form these into a paste, roll them thin, and lay them in sheets of tin; then bake them in a slow oven.
10. PORTUGAL CAKES.
Mix into a pound of fine flour, a pound of loaf sugar, beat and sifted, and rub it into a pound of butter, till it is thick, like grated white bread; then put to it two spoonsful of rose-water, two of sack, and ten eggs: work them well with a whisk, and put in eight ounces of currants. Butter the tin pans, fill them half full, and bake them. If made without currants they will keep a year.
11. GINGER CAKES WITHOUT BUTTER.
Take one pound of sugar, a quarter of a pound of ginger, a pint of water, two pounds of flour, and eight caps of orange peel. Pound and sift the ginger, and add a pint of water; boil it five minutes, then let it stand till cold. Pound the preserved orange-peel, and pass it through a hair sieve; put the flour on a pasteboard, make a wall, and put in the orange peel and ginger with the boiled water; mix this up to a paste and roll it out; prick the cakes before baking them.
12. SAVOY CAKES.
To one pound of fine sifted sugar, put the yolks of ten eggs, (have the whites in a separate pan,) and set it, if in summer, in cold water: if there is any ice set the pan on it as it will cause the eggs to be beat finer. Then beat the yolks and sugar well with a wooden spoon for 20 minutes, and put in the rind of a lemon grated; beat up the whites with a whisk, until they become quite stiff and white as snow. Stir them into the batter by degrees, then add three quarters of a pound of well-dried flour; finally put it in a mould in a slack oven to bake.
13. SAFFRON CAKES.
Take a quartern of fine flour, a pound and a half of butter, three ounces of caraway-seeds, six eggs, well beaten, a quarter of an ounce of well-beaten cloves and mace, a little pounded cinnamon, one pound of sugar, a little rose-water and saffron, a pint and a half of yeast, and a quart of milk. Mix them thus: first boil the milk and butter, then skim off the butter, and mix it with the flour and a little of the milk. Stir the yeast into the rest and strain it; mix it with the flour, put in the eggs and spice, rose-water, tincture of saffron, sugar, and eggs. Beat it all well up, and bake it in a hoop or pan well buttered. Send it to a quick oven, and an hour and a half will do it.
14. QUEEN CAKES.
Take a pound of sugar, beat and sift it, a pound of well-dried flour, a pound of butter, eight eggs, and half a pound of currants washed and picked; grate a nutmeg and an equal quantity of mace and cinnamon, work the butter to a cream, put in the sugar, beat the whites of the eggs 20 minutes, and mix them with the butter and sugar. Then beat the yolks for half an hour and put them to the butter. Beat the whole together, and when it is ready for the oven, put in the flour, spices, and currants; sift a little sugar over them, and bake them in tins.
15. RICE CAKES.
Beat the yolks of 15 eggs for nearly half an hour, with a whisk, mix well with them 10 ounces of fine sifted loaf sugar, put in half a pound of ground rice, a little orange water or brandy, and the rinds of two lemons grated, then add the whites of seven eggs well beaten, and stir the whole together for a quarter of an hour. Put them into a hoop and set them in a quick oven for half an hour, when they will be properly done.
16. LEMON CAKES.
Take one pound of sugar, three quarters of a pound of flour, 14 eggs, two table spoonsful of rose-water, the raspings and juice of four lemons; when the yolks are well beat up and separated, add the powder sugar, the lemon raspings, the juice, and the rose-water; beat them well together in a pan with a round bottom, till it becomes quite light, for half an hour. Put the paste to the whites previously well whisked about, and mix it very light. When well mixed sift in the flour and knead it in with the paste, as light as possible; form the biscuits and bake them in small oval tins, with six sheets of paper under them, in a moderate heat. Butter the tins well or it will prove difficult to take out the biscuits, which will be exceedingly nice if well made. Ice them previously to baking, but very lightly and even.
17. BANBURY CAKES.
Take a pound of dough made for white bread, roll it out, and put bits of butter upon the same as for puff paste, till a pound of the same has been worked in; roll it out very thin, then cut it into bits of an oval size, according as the cakes are wanted. Mix some good moist sugar with a little brandy, sufficient to wet it, then mix some clean washed currants with the former, put a little upon each bit of paste, close them up, and put the side that is closed next the tin they are to be baked upon. Lay them separate, and bake them moderately, and afterwards, when taken out, sift sugar over them. Some candied peel may be added, or a few drops of the essence of lemon.
18. ALMOND CAKES.
Take six ounces of sweet almonds, half a pound of powdered sugar, seven eggs, six ounces of flour, and the raspings of four lemons. Pound the almonds very fine, with whole eggs, add the sugar and lemon raspings, and mix them well together in the mortar. Take it out, put it in a basin and stir it with the yolks of eggs, till it is as white as a sponge paste; beat up the whites of the eggs to a strong snow, mix them very light with the paste, then take the flour and mix it as light as possible; on this the goodness of the paste principally depends, as it is impossible to make a good cake with a heavy paste; butter the mould and bake in a slack oven for an hour, with ten sheets of paper under it and one on the top.
19. PLAIN GINGERBREAD.
Mix three pounds of flour with four ounces of moist sugar, half an ounce of powdered ginger, and one pound and a quarter of warm treacle; melt half a pound of fresh butter in it; put it to the flour and make it a paste; then form it into nuts or cakes, or bake it in one cake.
20. Another Method.
Mix six pounds of flour with two ounces of caraway seeds, two ounces of ground ginger, two ounces of candied orange peel, the same of candied lemon peel cut in pieces, a little salt, six ounces of moist sugar; melt one pound of fresh butter in about half a pint of milk, pour it by degrees into four pounds of treacle, stir it well together, and add it, a little at a time, to the flour; mix it thoroughly, and make it into a paste; roll it out rather thin, and cut into cakes with the top of a dredger or wine glass; put them on floured tins, and bake them in rather a brisk oven.
21. CREAM CAKES.
Beat the whites of nine eggs to a stiff froth, stir it gently with a spoon lest the froth should fall, and to every white of an egg grate the rinds of two lemons; shake in gently a spoonful of double refined sugar sifted fine, lay a wet sheet of paper on a tin, and with a spoon drop the froth in little lumps on it near each other. Sift a good quantity of sugar over them, set them in the oven after the bread is out, and close up the mouth of it, which will occasion the froth to rise. As soon as they are coloured they will be sufficiently baked; lay them by two bottoms together on a sieve, and dry them in a cool oven.
22. CRUMPETS.
Set two pounds of flour with a little salt before the fire till quite warm; then mix it with warm milk and water till it is as stiff as it can be stirred; let the milk be as warm as it can be borne with the finger, put a cupful of this with three eggs well beaten, and mixed with three spoonsful of very thick yeast; then put this to the batter and beat them all well together in a large pan or bowl, add as much milk and water as will make it into a thick batter; cover it close and put it before the fire to rise: put a bit of butter in a piece of thin muslin, tie it up, and rub it lightly over the iron hearth or frying pan; then pour on a sufficient quantity of batter at a time to make one crumpet; let it do slowly, and it will be very light. Bake them all the same way. They should not be brown, but of a fine yellow.
23. MUFFINS.
Mix a pint and a half of warm milk and water, with a quarter of a pint of good yeast, and a little salt; stir them together for a quarter of an hour, then strain the liquor into a quarter of a peck of fine flour; mix the dough well and set it to rise for an hour, then roll it up and pull it into small pieces, make them up in the hand like balls, and lay a flannel over them while rolling to keep them warm. The dough should be closely covered up the whole time; when the whole is rolled into balls, the first that are made will be ready for baking. When they are spread out in the right form for muffins, lay them on tins and bake them, and as the bottoms begin to change colour turn them on the other side.
24. COMMON BUNS.
Rub four ounces of butter into two pounds of flour, a little salt, four ounces of sugar, a dessert spoonful of caraways, and a tea spoonful of ginger; put some warm milk or cream to four table spoonsful of yeast; mix all together into a paste, but not too stiff; cover it over and set it before the fire an hour to rise, then make it into buns, put them on a tin, set them before the fire for a quarter of an hour, cover over with flannel, then brush them with very warm milk, and bake them of a nice brown in a moderate oven.
25. CROSS BUNS.
Put two pounds and a half of fine flour into a wooden bowl, and set it before the fire to warm; then add half a pound of sifted sugar, some coriander seed, cinnamon and mace powdered fine; melt half a pound of butter in half a pint of milk: when it is as warm as it can bear the finger, mix with it three table spoonsful of very thick yeast, and a little salt; put it to the flour, mix it to a paste, and make the buns as directed in the last receipt. Put a cross on the top, not very deep.
26. RUSKS.
Beat up seven eggs, mix them with half a pint of warm new milk, in which a quarter of a pound of butter has been melted, add a quarter of a pint of yeast, and three ounces of sugar; put them gradually into as much flour as will make a light paste nearly as thin as batter; let it rise before the fire half an hour, add more flour to make it a little stiffer, work it well and divide it into small loaves, or cakes, about five or six inches wide, and flatten them. When baked and cold put them in the oven to brown a little. These cakes, when first baked, are very good buttered for tea; if they are made with caraway seeds they eat very nice cold.
27. ORANGE CUSTARDS.
Boil very tender the rind of half a Seville orange, and beat it in a mortar until it is very fine; put to it a spoonful of the best brandy, the juice of a Seville orange, four ounces of loaf sugar, and the yolk of four eggs. Beat them all together for ten minutes, and then pour in by degrees a pint of boiling cream; beat them until cold, then put them in custard cups, in a dish of hot water; let them stand till they are set, then take them out and stick preserved orange peel on the top; this forms a fine flavoured dish, and may be served up hot or cold.
28. BAKED CUSTARDS.
Boil a pint of cream with some mace and cinnamon, and when it is cold, take four yolks of eggs, a little rose water, sack, nutmeg, and sugar, to taste; mix them well and bake them.
29. RICE CUSTARDS.
Put a blade of mace, and a quartered nutmeg into a quart of cream; boil and strain it, and add to it some boiled rice and a little brandy. Sweaten it to taste, stir it till it thickens, and serve it up in cups, or in a dish; it may be used either hot or cold.
30. ALMOND CUSTARDS.
Blanch a quarter of a pound of almonds, beat them very fine, and then put them into a pint of cream, with two spoonsful of rose-water; sweeten it, and put in the yolks of four eggs; stir them well together till it becomes thick, and then pour it into cups.
31. LEMON CUSTARDS.
Take half a pound of double refined sugar, the juice of two lemons, the rind of one pared very thin, the inner rind of one boiled tender and rubbed through a sieve, and a pint of white wine; boil them for some time, then take out the peel and a little of the liquor; strain them into the dish, stir them well together and set them to cool.
32. ALMOND TARTS.
Blanch and beat fine some almonds, with a little white wine and some sugar, (a pound of sugar to a pound of almonds,) grated bread, nutmeg, cream, and the juice of spinach, to colour the almonds. Bake it in a gentle oven, and when done, thicken with candied orange peel or citron.
33. GREEN ALMOND TARTS.
Pull the almonds from the tree before they shell, scrape off the down, and put them into a pan with cold spring water; then put them into a skillet with more spring water; set it on a slow fire, and let it remain till it simmers. Change the water twice, and let them remain in the last till tender, then take them out and dry them well in a cloth. Make a syrup with double refined sugar, put them into it and let them simmer: do the same the next day, put them into a stone jar, and cover them very close, for if the least air comes to them they will turn black; the yellower they are before they are taken out of the water, the greener they will be after they are done. Put them into the crust, cover them with syrup, lay on the lid, and bake them in a moderate oven.
34. ORANGE OR LEMON PIE.
Rub six oranges or lemons with salt, and put them into water, with a handful of salt, for two days. Put every day fresh water without salt, for a fortnight. Boil them tender, cut them into half quarters, cornerways, quite thin: boil six pippins, pared, cored, and quartered, in a pint of water till they break, then put the liquor to the oranges or lemons, with half the pulp of the pippins well broken, and a pound of sugar; boil them a quarter of an hour, then put them into a pot and squeeze in two spoonsful of the juice of either orange or lemon, according to the kind of tart; put puff paste, very thin, into shallow patty-pans. Take a brush, and rub them over with melted butter, sift double refined sugar over them, which will form a pretty iceing, and bake them.
35. ORANGE TARTS.
Grate a little of the outside of a Seville orange, squeeze the juice into a dish, put the peel into water, and change it often for four days, then put into a saucepan of boiling water on the fire; change the water twice to take out the bitterness, and when tender, wipe and beat them fine in a mortar; boil their weight in double refined sugar into a syrup, and skim it, then put in the pulp and boil all together till clear; when cold put it into the tarts, and squeeze in the juice, and bake them in a quick oven. Conserve of orange makes good tarts.
36. ORANGE PUFFS.
Pare off the rinds from Seville oranges, then rub them with salt, let them lie twenty-four hours in water, boil them in four changes of water, make the first salt, drain and beat them to a pulp; bruise in the pieces of all that are pared, make it very sweet with loaf sugar, and boil it till thick; let it stand till cold, and then put it into the paste.
37. ENGLISH MACAROONS.
One pound of sweet almonds, 1 pound and a quarter of sugar, 6 whites of eggs, and the raspings of two lemons. Pound the almonds very fine with 6 whites of eggs, feel the almonds, and if they are free from lumps, they will do; then add the powdered sugar, and mix it well with the lemon raspings. Dress them in wafer paper of the required shape; bake them in a moderate heat, then let them stand till cold, cut the wafer paper round them, but leave it on the bottoms.
38. FANCY BISCUITS.
Take 1 pound of almonds, 1 pound of sugar, and some orange flower water. Pound the almonds very fine, and sprinkle them with orange flower water; when they are perfectly smooth to the touch, put them in a small pan, with flour sifted through a silk sieve; put the pan on a slow fire, and dry the paste till it does not stick to the fingers; move it well from the bottom to prevent its burning; then take it off, and roll it into small round fillets, to make knots, rings, &c., and cut it into various shapes; make an iceing of different colours, dip one side of them in it, and set them on wire gratings to drain. They may be varied by strewing over them coloured pistachios, or coloured almonds, according to fancy.
39. SPONGE BISCUITS.
Beat the yolks of 12 eggs for half an hour; then put in a pound and a half of beaten sifted sugar, and whisk it till it rises in bubbles; beat the whites to strong froth, and whisk them well with the sugar and yolks, work in 14 ounces of flour, with the rinds of 2 lemons grated. Bake them in tin moulds buttered, in a quick oven, for an hour; before they are baked, sift a little fine sugar over them.
40. FINE CHEESECAKES.
Put a pint of warm cream into a saucepan over the fire, and when it is warm, add to it 5 quarts of new milk. Then put in some rennet, stir it, and when it is turned, put the curd into a linen cloth or bag. Let the whey drain from it, but do not squeeze it too much. Put it into a mortar, and pound it as fine as butter. Add ½ a pound of sweet almonds blanched, ½ a pound of macaroons, or Naples biscuit. Then add nine well beaten yolks of eggs, a grated nutmeg, a little rose or orange water, and ½ a pound of fine sugar. Mix all well together.
41. ALMOND CHEESECAKES.
Put 4 ounces of blanched sweet almonds into cold water, and beat them in a marble mortar or a wooden bowl, with some rose water. Put to it 4 ounces of sugar, and the yolks of four eggs beat fine. Work it till it becomes white and frothy, and then make a rich puff paste as follows: Take ½ a pound of flour, and a ¼ of a pound of butter; rub a little of the butter into the flour, mix it stiff with a little cold water, and then roll out the paste. Strew on a little flour and lay over it in thin bits 1-3d of the butter, throw a little more flour over the bottom, and do the like three different times. Put the paste into the tins, grate sugar over them, and bake them gently.
42. BREAD CHEESECAKES.
Slice a penny loaf as thin as possible, pour on it a pint of boiling cream, and let it stand two hours. Beat together 8 eggs, ½ a pound of butter, and a grated nutmeg: mix them into the cream and bread with ½ a pound of currants well washed and dried, and a spoonful of white wine or brandy. Bake them in patty pans, on a raised crust.
43. RICE CHEESECAKES.
Boil 4 ounces of rice till it is tender, and then put it into a sieve to drain; mix with it 4 eggs well beaten up, ½ a pound of butter, ½ a pint of cream, 6 ounces of sugar, a nutmeg grated, a glass of brandy, or ratafia water. Beat them all well together, then put them into raised crusts, and bake them in a moderate oven.
44. APPLE CAKES.
Take half a quartern of dough, roll it out thin; spread equally over it 5 ounces each of coffee and sugar, a little nutmeg or allspice, and 2 ounces of butter; then fold and roll it again two or three times, to mix well the ingredients. Afterwards roll it out thin, and spread over it 4 rather large apples, pared, cored, and chopped small; fold it up, and roll until mixed. Let it stand to rise after. Half a pound of butter may be added.
45. BLANCMANGE.
Put into 1 quart of water an ounce of isinglass, and let it boil till it is reduced to a pint; then put in the whites of 4 eggs with 2 spoonsful of rice water, and sweeten it to taste. Run it through a jelly bag, and then put to it 2 ounces of sweet, and 1 ounce of bitter almonds. Scald them in the jelly, and then run them through a hair sieve. Put it into a china bowl, and the next day turn it out. Garnish with flowers or green leaves, and stick all over the top blanched almonds cut lengthways.
46. CLEAR BLANCMANGE.
Skim off the fat, and strain a quart of strong calf’s foot jelly, add to the same the whites of 4 eggs well beaten, set it over the fire and stir it till it boils. Then pour it into a jelly bag, and run it through several times till it is clear. Beat an ounce each of sweet and bitter almonds to a paste with a spoonful of rose water strained through a cloth. Then mix it with the jelly, and add to it 3 spoonsful of very good cream. Set it again over the fire and stir it till it almost boils. Pour it into a bowl; then stir it often till almost cold; and then fill the moulds.
CONFECTIONARY.
47. TO PREPARE SUGAR FOR CANDYING.
The first process is clarifying, which is done thus. Break the white of an egg into a preserving pan; put to it 4 quarts of water, and beat it with a whisk to a froth. Then put in 12 pounds of sugar, mix all together, and set it over the fire. When it boils put in a little cold water, and proceed as often as necessary, till the scum rises thick on the top. Then remove it from the fire, and when it is settled, take off the scum, and pass it through a straining bag. If the sugar should not appear very fine, boil it again before straining it.
48. TO CANDY SUGAR.
After having completed the above first process, put what quantity is wanted over the fire, and boil it till it is smooth enough. This is known by dipping the skimmer into the sugar, and touching it between the forefinger and thumb; and immediately on opening them a small thread will be observed drawn between, which will crystallize and break, and remain in a drop on the thumb, which will be a sign of its gaining some degree of smoothness. Boil it again, and it will draw into a larger string; it is now called bloom sugar, and must be boiled longer than in the former process. To try its forwardness, dip again the skimmer shaking off the sugar into the pan; then blow with the mouth strongly through the holes, and if certain bladders go through, it has acquired the second degree: to prove if the liquid has arrived at the state called feathered sugar, re-dip the skimmer, and shake it over the pan, then give it a sudden flirt behind, and the sugar will fly off like feathers.
It now arrives to the state called crackled sugar, to obtain which the mass must be boiled longer than in the preceding degree; then dip a stick in it, and put it directly into a pan of cold water, draw off the sugar which hangs to the stick in the water, and if it turns hard and snaps, it has acquired the proper degree of crystallization, if otherwise, boil it again until it acquires that brittleness.
The last stage of refining this article is called caramel sugar, to obtain which it must be boiled longer than in any of the preceding methods; prove it by dipping a stick first in the sugar, and then into cold water, and the moment it touches the latter, it will, if matured, snap like glass. Be careful that the fire is not too fierce, as by flaming up the sides of the pan, it will burn, discolour, and spoil the sugar.
49. French Method.
Put into a pan syrup enough of clarified sugar to fill the moulds; boil it until it comes to the state called small feather, skim it well, take the pan from the fire, and pour it into a small quantity of spirit of wine, sufficient to make it sparkle; let it rest till the skin, which is the candy, rises on the surface; take it off with a skimmer, and pour it directly into a mould; which keep in the stove at 90 degrees heat for eight days; then strain the candy by a hole, slanting the mould on a bason or pan, to receive the drainings; let it drain till it is perfectly dry, then loosen the paper by moistening it with warm water: warm it all round near the fire, and turn the candy by striking it hard on the table. Put it on a sieve in the stove, to finish drying it; but do not touch it while there, and keep up an equal heat, otherwise there will be only a mash instead of a candy. Spirit of wine will take off grease, and not affect the candy, as it soon evaporates.
50. TO CANDY ANY SORT OF FRUIT.
When finished in the syrup, put a layer into a new sieve, and dip it suddenly into hot water to take off the syrup that hangs about it: put it into a napkin before the fire to drain, and then do more in the sieve. Have ready sifted double refined sugar, which shake over the fruit till covered quite white. Set it on the shallow end of the sieve in a warm oven, and turn it two or three times. It must not be cold till dry. Watch it carefully.
51. BARLEY SUGAR.
Take a quantity of clarified sugar in that state that on dipping the finger into the pan the sugar which adheres to it will break with a slight noise; this is called crack. When the sugar is near this, put in two or three drops of lemon juice, or a little vinegar to prevent its graining. When it has come to the crack, take it off instantly, and dip the pan into cold water, to prevent its burning; let it stand a little, and then pour it on a marble which must be previously rubbed with oil. Cut the sugar into small pieces, when it will be ready for use. One drop of citron will flavour a considerable quantity.
52. BON-BONS.
Provide leaden moulds, which must be of various shapes, and be oiled with oil of sweet almonds. Take a quantity of brown sugar syrup in the proportion to their size, in that state called a blow, which may be known by dipping the skimmer into the sugar, shaking it, and blowing through the holes, when parts of light may be seen: add a drop of any esteemed essence. If the bon-bons are preferred white, when the sugar has cooled a little, stir it round the pan till it grains, and shines on the surface; then pour it into a funnel and fill the little moulds, when it will take a proper form and harden: as soon as it is cold take it from the moulds; dry it two or three days, and put it upon paper. If the bon-bons are required to be coloured, add the colour just as the sugar is ready to be taken off the fire.
53. CANDIED GINGER.
Put 1 ounce of race ginger grated fine, a pound of loaf sugar beat fine, into a preserving pan, with as much water as will dissolve the sugar. Stir them well together over a slow fire till the sugar begins to boil. Then stir in another pound of sugar, beat fine, and keep stirring it till it grows thick. Then take it off the fire, and drop it in cakes upon earthen dishes. Set them in a warm place to dry, when they will become hard and brittle, and look white.
54. CANDIED HOREHOUND.
Boil it in water until the juice is extracted: then boil a sufficient quantity of sugar to a great height, and add the juice to it. Stir it with a spoon against the sides of the sugar pan, till it begins to grow thick, then pour it out into a paper case that is dusted with fine sugar, and cut it into squares; dry the horehound, and put it into the sugar finely powdered and sifted.
55. WHITE SUGAR CANDY.
Sugar crystallized by the saturated syrup being left in a very warm place, from 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the shooting promoted by placing sticks, or a net of threads at some distances from each other in the liquor: it is also deposited from compound syrup, and does not retain any of the foreign substances with which it is loaded.
56. TO CLARIFY LOAF SUGAR.
Break the same into a copper pan, which will hold 1-3d more, put half a pint of water to each pound of sugar, mix one white of egg to every 6 pounds; when it rises in boiling, throw in a little cold water, which must be kept ready in case it should boil over; skim it the fourth time of rising; continue to throw in a little cold water each time till the scum ceases to rise, and strain it through a sieve, cloth, or flannel bag. Save the scum, which, when a certain quantity is taken off, may be clarified. The latter skimming will do to add to fermented wines.
57. TO CLARIFY COARSE BROWN SUGAR.
Put 50 pounds of coarse brown sugar into a pan, which will contain 1-3d more, pour in 20 pints of water, well mixed with 5 whites of eggs; pound 5 pounds of small charcoal, mix it in the pan while on the fire, and boil it till it looks as black as ink. If it rises too fast, add cold water, strain it through a bag, and though at first it will be black, continue to strain it until it becomes quite clear; which may be seen by putting the syrup in a glass. Put it back until it comes out as fine as clarified loaf sugar.
58. TO IMPROVE AND INCREASE SUGAR.
To 5 pounds of coarse brown sugar, add 1 pound of flour, and there will be obtained 6 pounds of sugar worth 10 per cent. more in colour and quality.
59. TO CANDY ORANGE PEEL.
Soak the peels in cold water, which change frequently till they lose their bitterness; then put them into syrup till they become soft and transparent. Then they are to be taken out and drained.
60. CANDIED LEMON PEEL.
This is made by boiling lemon peel with sugar, and then exposing to the air until the sugar crystallizes.
61. TO COLOUR CANDIED SUGAR.
Red.—Boil an ounce of cochineal in half a pint of water for 5 minutes, add an ounce of cream of tartar, half an ounce of pounded alum, and boil them on a slow fire 10 minutes; if it shows the colour clear on white paper, it is sufficient. Add two ounces of sugar, and bottle it for use.
Blue.—Put a little warm water in a plate, and rub an indigo-stone in it till the colour has come to the tint required.
Yellow.—Rub with some water a little gamboge on a plate, or infuse the heart of a yellow lily flower, with milk-warm water.
Green.—Boil the leaves of spinach about a minute in a little water, and, when strained, bottle the liquor for use. In colouring refined sugars, taste and fancy must guide.
62. DEVICES IN SUGAR.
Steep gum-tragacanth in rose-water, and with double refined sugar make it into a paste, and colour and mould it to fancy.
63. WHIPT SYLLABUB.
Rub a lump of loaf sugar on the outside of a lemon, and put it into a pint of thick cream, and sweeten it to taste. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and add a glass of Madeira wine, or French brandy. Mill it to a froth with a chocolate mill, take off the froth as it rises, and lay it in a hair sieve. Fill one half of the glass with red wine, then lay the froth as high as possible, but take care that it is well drained in the sieve, otherwise it will mix with the wine, and the syllabub be spoiled.
64. A SOLID SYLLABUB.
To a quart of rich cream put a quart of white wine, the juice of two lemons, with the rind of one grated, and sweeten it to taste. Whip it up well and take off the froth as it rises. Put it upon a hair sieve, and let it stand in a cool place till the next day. Then half fill the glasses with the scum, and heap up the froth as high as possible. The bottom will look clear, and it will keep several days.
65. SNOW BALLS.
Pare and take out the cores of five large baking apples, and fill the holes with orange or quince marmalade. Then take some good hot paste, roll the apples in it, and make the crust of an equal thickness; put them in a tin dripping pan, bake them in a moderate oven, and when taken out, make iceing for them; let the same be a quarter of an inch thick, and set them a good distance from the fire until they become hardened, but be cautious that they are not browned.
66. CAPILLAIRE.
Mix six eggs well beat up, with fourteen pounds of loaf sugar, and three pounds of coarse sugar. Put them into three quarts of water, boil it twice, skim it well, and add a quarter of a pint of orange-flower water: strain it through a jelly-bag, and put it into bottles for use. A spoonful or two of this syrup put into a draught of either cold or warm water, makes it drink exceedingly pleasant.
67. CONFECTIONARY DROPS.
Take double refined sugar, pound and sift it through a hair sieve, not too fine; then sift it through a silk sieve, to take out all the fine dust, which would destroy the beauty of the drop. Put the sugar into a clean pan, and moisten it with any aromatic; if rose-water, pour it in slowly, stirring it with a paddle, which the sugar will fall from, as soon as it is moist enough, without sticking. Colour it with a small quantity of liquid carmine, or any other colour, ground fine. Take a small pan with a lip, fill it three parts with paste, place it on a small stove, the half hole being of the size of the pan, and stir the sugar with a little ivory or bone handle, until it becomes liquid. When it almost boils, take it from the fire and continue to stir it: if it be too moist, take a little of the powdered sugar, and add a spoonful to the paste, and stir it till it is of such a consistence as to run without too much extension. Have a tin plate, very clean and smooth; take the little pan in the left hand, and hold in the right a bit of iron, copper, or silver wire, four inches long, to take off the drop from the lip of the pan, and let it fall regularly on the tin plate; two hours afterwards, take off the drops with the blade of a knife.
68. CHOCOLATE DROPS.
Scrape the chocolate to powder, and put an ounce to each pound of sugar; moisten the paste with clear water, work it as above, only take care to use all the paste prepared, as, if it be put on the fire a second time, it greases, and the drop is not of the proper thickness.
69. ORANGE-FLOWER DROPS.
These are made as the sugar drops, only using orange-flower water, or, instead of it, use the essence of naroli, which is the essential oil of that flower.
70. COFFEE DROPS.
An ounce of coffee to a pound of sugar will form a strong decoction: when cleared, use it to moisten the sugar, and then make the drops as above.
71. PEPPERMINT DROPS.
The only requisites to make these are, extreme cleanliness, the finest sugar, and a few drops of the essence of peppermint.
72. CLOVE DROPS.
These are made as the cinnamon drops, the cloves being pounded, or the essence used. Good cloves should be black, heavy, of a pungent smell, hot to the taste, and full of oil.
73. GINGER DROPS.
Pound and sift through a silk sieve the required quantity of ginger, according to the strength wanted, and add it to the sugar with clear water. China ginger is the best, being aromatic as well as hot and sharp tasted.
74. LIQUORICE LOZENGES.
Take of extract of liquorice,
double refined sugar, each 10 oz.
tragacanth, powdered, 3 oz.
Powder them thoroughly, and make them into lozenges with rose-water.
These are agreeable pectorals, and may be used at pleasure in tickling coughs. The above receipt is the easiest and best mode of making these lozenges. Refined extract of liquorice should be used: and it is easily powdered in the cold, after it has been laid for some days in a dry and rather warm place.
75. EXTRACT OF LIQUORICE.
The liquorice root is to be boiled in eight times its weight of water, to one half; the liquor is then to be expressed, and, after the fæces have subsided, to be filtered; it is then to be evaporated, with a heat between 200° and 212°, until it becomes thickish; and, lastly, it is to be evaporated with a heat less than 200°, and frequently stirred, until it acquire a consistence proper for forming pills. This is made into little pastilles, or flat cakes, often bearing the impression of the places where they are made; and a bit now and then put into the mouth, takes off the tickling of a cough. It should be sucked to make it pleasant, as much of the juice taken at a time is unpleasant.
76. LIQUORICE JUICE.
Take up the roots in July; clean them perfectly as soon as out of the earth, then hang them up in the air, till nearly dry; after this cut them into thin slices, and boil them in water till the decoction is extremely strong; then press it hard out to obtain all the juice from the roots. This decoction is left to settle a little, and when it has deposited its coarser parts, pour it off into vessels, evaporate it over a fire, strong first, but mild afterwards, till it becomes of a thick consistence; then let the fire go out, and when the extract is cool, take out large parcels of it at a time, and work them well with the hands, forming them into cylindric masses, which cut into such lengths as required, roll them over half-dried bay-leaves, which adhere to the surfaces, and leave them exposed to the sun, till perfectly dried. Great nicety is to be observed at the end of the evaporation, to get the extract to a proper consistence without letting it burn.
77. REFINED LIQUORICE.
That description of article which is vended in thin, rounded, and glazed pieces, about the thickness of a crow’s quill, is entirely prepared in this country. The whole process consists in evaporating the liquorice-ball anew, and purifying it by rest, with the help of isinglass, &c.
78. CANDIED ORANGE MARMALADE.
Cut the clearest Seville oranges into two, take out all the juice and pulp into a basin, and pick all the skins and seeds out of it. Boil the rinds in hard water till they become tender, and change the water two or three times while they are boiling. Then pound them in a marble mortar, and add to it the juice and pulp; put them next into a preserving pan with double their weight in loaf sugar, and set it over a slow fire. Boil it rather more than half an hour, put it into pots: cover it with brandy paper, and tie it close down.
79. TRANSPARENT MARMALADE.
Cut very pale Seville oranges into quarters; take out the pulp, put it into a basin, and pick out the skins and seeds. Put the peels into a little salt and water, and let them stand all night, then boil them in a good quantity of spring water until they are tender: cut them in very thin slices, and put them into the pulp. To every pound of marmalade put one pound and a half of double refined beaten sugar; boil them together gently for 20 minutes; if they are not transparent, boil them a few minutes longer. Stir it gently all the time, and take care not to break the slices. When it is cold, put it into jelly and sweetmeat glasses tied down tight.
80. BARBERRY MARMALADE.
Mash the barberries in a little water, on a warm stove; pass them through a hair sieve with a paddle; weigh the pulp and put it back on the fire; reduce it to one half, clarify a pound of sugar and boil it well; put in the pulp and boil it together for a few minutes.
81. QUINCE MARMALADE.
Take quinces that are quite ripe, pare and cut them in quarters, take out the cores, put them in a stew-pan with spring water, nearly enough to cover them, keep them closely covered, and let them stew gently till they are quite soft and red, then mash and rub them through a hair sieve. Put them in a pan over a gentle fire, with as much thick clarified sugar as the weight of the quinces; boil them an hour and stir the whole time with a wooden spoon to prevent its sticking; put it into pots, and when cold tie them down.
82. SCOTCH MARMALADE.
Take of the juice of Seville oranges, 2 pints,
yellow honey, 2 lbs.
Boil to a proper consistence.
83. HARTSHORN JELLY.
Boil half a pound of hartshorn in three quarts of water, over a gentle fire, till it becomes a jelly; when a little hangs on a spoon it is done enough. Strain it hot, put it into a well-tinned saucepan, and add to it half a pint of Rhenish wine, and a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar. Beat the whites of four eggs or more to a froth, stir it sufficiently for the whites to mix well with the jelly, and pour it in as if cooling it. Boil it two or three minutes, then put in the juice of four lemons, and let it boil two minutes longer. When it is finely curdled and of a pure white, pour it into a swan-skin jelly bag over a China basin, and pour it back again until it becomes as clear as rock water; set a very clean China basin under, fill the glasses, put some thin lemon rind into the basin, and when the jelly is all run out of the bag, with a clean spoon fill the rest of the glasses, and they will look of a fine amber colour. Put in lemon and sugar agreeable to the palate.
84. WHIPT CREAM.
Mix the whites of eight eggs, a quart of thick cream, and half a pint of sack, sweeten them to taste with double refined sugar. It may be perfumed with a little musk or ambergris tied in a rag and steeped in a little cream. Whip it up with a whisk, and some lemon-peel tied in the middle of the whisk. Then lay the froth with a spoon on the glasses, or basins.
85. PISTACHIO CREAM.
Beat half a pound of pistachio nut kernels in a mortar with a spoonful of brandy. Put them into a pan with a pint of good cream and the yolks of two eggs beaten fine. Stir it gently over the fire till it grows thick, and then put it into a China soup plate. When it is cold stick it over with small pieces of the nuts, and send it to table.
86. ICE CREAM.
To a pound of any preserved fruit add a quart of good cream, squeeze the juice of two lemons into it and some sugar to taste. Let the whole be rubbed through a fine hair sieve, and if raspberry, strawberry, or any red fruit, add a little cochineal to heighten the colour: have the freezing pot nice and clean; put the cream into it and cover it; then put it into the tub with ice beat small, and some salt; turn the freezing pot quick, and as the cream sticks to the sides, scrape it down with an ice-spoon, and so on till it is frozen. The more the cream is worked to the side with the spoon, the smoother and better flavoured it will be. After it is well frozen, take it out and put it into ice shapes with salt and ice: then carefully wash the shapes for fear of any salt adhering to them; dip them in lukewarm water and send them to table.
87. Another Method.
Bruise two pottles of strawberries in a basin with half a pint of good cream, a little currant jelly, and some cold clarified sugar; rub this well through the tammy, and put it in an ice pot well covered; then set it in a tub of broken ice with plenty of salt; when it grows thick about the sides, stir it with a spoon, and cover it close again till it is perfectly frozen through; cover it well with ice and salt both under and over, and when it is frozen change it into a mould and cover well with ice. Sweeten a little plain cream with sugar and orange flower water, and treat it the same; likewise any other fruit, without cream, may be mixed as above. This is called water ice.
88. CURRANT JELLY.
Take the juice of red currants, 1 lb.
sugar, 6 oz.
Boil down.
89. Another Method.
Take the juice of red currants, and
white sugar, equal quantities.
Stir it gently and smoothly for three hours, put it into glasses, and in three days it will concrete into a firm jelly.
90. BLACK CURRANT JELLY.
Put to ten quarts of ripe dry black currants, one quart of water; put them in a large stew-pot, tie paper close over them, and set them for two hours in a cool oven. Squeeze them through a fine cloth, and add to every quart of juice a pound and a half of loaf sugar broken into small pieces. Stir it till the sugar is melted; when it boils skim it quite clean. Boil it pretty quick over a clear fire, till it jellies, which is known by dipping a skimmer into the jelly and holding it in the air; when it hangs to the spoon in a drop, it is done. If the jelly is boiled too long it will lose its flavour and shrink very much. Pour it into pots, cover them with brandy papers, and keep them in a dry place. Red and white jellies are made in the same way.
91. APPLE JELLY.
Take of apple juice strained, 4 lbs.
sugar, one pound.
Boil to a jelly.
92. STRAWBERRY JELLY.
Take of the juice of strawberries, 4 lbs.
sugar, 2 lbs.
Boil down.
93. GOOSEBERRY JELLY.
Dissolve sugar in about half its weight of water, and boil; it will be nearly solid when cold; to this syrup add an equal weight of gooseberry juice, and give it a boil, but not long, for otherwise it will not fix.
94. RASPBERRY CREAM.
Rub a quart of raspberries through a hair sieve, and take out the seeds and mix it well with cream; sweeten it with sugar to your taste, then put it into a stone jug, and raise a froth with a chocolate mill. As the froth rises, take it off with a spoon, and lay it upon a hair sieve. When there is as much froth as wanted, put what cream remains in a deep China dish, and pour the frothed cream upon it, as high as it will lie on.
95. RASPBERRY JAM.
Mash a quantity of fine ripe dry raspberries, strew on them their own weight of loaf sugar, and half their weight of white currant juice. Boil them half an hour over a clear slow fire, skim them well, and put them into pots or glasses; tie them down with brandy papers, and keep them dry. Strew on the sugar as quick as possible after the berries are gathered, and in order to preserve their flavour, they must not stand long before boiling them.
96. STRAWBERRY JAM.
Bruise very fine some scarlet strawberries, gathered when quite ripe, and put to them a little juice of red currants. Beat and sift their weight in sugar, strew it over them, and put them into a preserving pan. Set them over a clear slow fire, skim them, then boil them 20 minutes, and put them into glasses.
97. RASPBERRY PASTE.
Mash a quart of raspberries, strain one half and put the juice to the other half; boil them a quarter of an hour, put to them a pint of red currant juice, and let them boil all together, till the raspberries are done enough. Then put a pound and a half of double refined sugar into a clean pan, with as much water as will dissolve it; boil it to a sugar again; then put in the raspberries and juice, scald and pour them into glasses. Put them into a stove to dry, and turn them when necessary.
98. DAMSON CHEESE.
Boil the fruit in a sufficient quantity of water to cover it; strain the pulp through a very coarse hair sieve; to each pound add four ounces of sugar. Boil till it begins to candy on the sides, then pour it into tin moulds. Other kinds of plums may be treated in the same way, as also cherries, and several kinds of fruit.
99. AN OMELETTE SOUFFLE.
Put two ounces of the powder of chestnuts into a skillet, then add two yolks of new laid eggs, and dilute the whole with a little cream, or even a little water; when this is done, and the ingredients well mixed, leaving no lumps, add a bit of the best fresh butter, about the size of an egg, and an equal quantity of powdered sugar; then put the skillet on the fire, and keep stirring the contents; when the cream is fixed and thick enough to adhere to the spoon, let it bubble up once or twice, and take it from the fire; then add a third white of an egg to those you have already set aside, and whip them to the consistency of snow: then amalgamate the whipped whites of eggs and the cream, stirring them with a light and equal hand, pour the contents into a deep dish, sift over with double refined sugar, and place the dish on a stove, with a fire over it as well as under, and in a quarter of an hour the cream will rise like an omelette souffle; as soon as it rises about four inches it is fit to serve up.
100. ORGEAT PASTE.
Blanch and pound three quarters of a pound of sweet, and a quarter of a pound of bitter almonds; pound them in a mortar, and wet them sufficiently with orange flower water, that they may not oil. When they are pounded fine, add three quarters of a pound of fine powdered sugar to them, and mix the whole in a stiff paste, which put into pots for use. It will keep six months; when wanted to be used, take a piece about the size of an egg, and mix it with half a pint of water, and squeeze it through a napkin.
101. PATE DE GUIMAUVE.
Take of decoction of marshmallow roots, 4 oz.
water, 1 gallon.
Boil 4 pints and strain: then add gum arabic, half a pound, refined sugar, 2 lbs. Evaporate to an extract, then take it from the fire, stir it quickly with the whites of twelve eggs, previously beaten to a froth: then add, while stirring, half an oz. of orange-flower water.
102. Another.
Take of very white gum arabic, and white sugar, each 2¼ lbs. with a sufficient quantity of boiling water. Dissolve, strain, and evaporate without boiling, to the consistence of honey: beat up the whites of six eggs with four drachms of orange-flower water, which mix gradually with the paste, and evaporate over a slow fire, stirring it continually till it will not stick to the fingers, it should be very light, spongy, and extremely white.
103. PATE DE JUJUBES.
Take of raisins stoned, 1 lb.
currants picked,
jujubes, opened, each 4 oz.
water, a sufficient quantity.
Boil; strain with expression, add sugar, 2½ lbs. gum arabic, 2½ lbs. previously made into a mucilage with some water, and strain; evaporate gently, pour into moulds, finish by drying in a stove and then divide it.
TO PRESERVE FRUITS.
Some rules are necessary to be observed in this branch of confectionary.
In the first place, observe, in making syrups, that the Sugar is well dissolved before it is placed on the fire, otherwise the scum will not rise well, nor the fruit obtain its best colour.
When stone fruits are preserved, cover them with mutton suet rendered, to exclude the air; as air is sure to ruin them.
All wet sweet-meats must be kept dry and cool to preserve them from mouldiness and damp.
Dip a piece of writing paper in brandy, lay it close upon the sweetmeats, cover them tight with paper, and they will keep well for any length of time; but they will inevitably spoil without these precautions.
104. TO BOTTLE DAMSONS.
Put damsons, before they are too ripe, into wide-mouthed bottles, and cork them down tight; then put them into a moderately heated oven, and about three hours will do them; observe that the oven is not too hot, otherwise it will make the fruit fly. All kinds of fruits that are bottled may be done in the same way, and they will keep two years; after they are done, they must be put away with the mouth downward, in a cool place, to keep them from fermenting.
105. TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES.
Set an equal quantity of barberries and sugar in a kettle of boiling water, till the sugar is melted and the barberries quite soft; let them remain all night. Put them next day into a preserving pan, and boil them fifteen minutes, then put them into jars, tie them close, and set them by for use.
106. GRAPES.
Take close bunches, whether white or red, not too ripe, and lay them in a jar. Put to them a quarter of a pound of sugar candy, and fill the jar with common brandy. Tie them up close with a bladder, and set them in a dry place.
107. TO DRY CHERRIES.
Having stoned the desired quantity of morello cherries, put a pound and a quarter of fine sugar to every pound; beat and sift it over the cherries, and let them stand all night. Take them out of their sugar, and to every pound of sugar, put two spoonsful of water. Boil and skim it well, and then put in the cherries; boil the sugar over them, and next morning strain them, and to every pound of syrup put half a pound more sugar; boil it till it is a little thicker, then put in the cherries and let them boil gently. The next day strain them, put them in a stove and turn them every day till they are dry.
108. TO CLARIFY HONEY.
The best kind is clarified by merely melting it in a water bath, and taking off the scum; the middling kind by dissolving it in water, adding the white of an egg to each pint of the solution; and boiling it down to its original consistence, skimming it from time to time. The inferior kind requires solution in water, boiling the solution with one pound of charcoal, to 25 pounds of honey, adding, when an excess of acid is apprehended, a small quantity of chalk or oyster-shell powder; next by straining it several times through flannel, and reducing the solution to its original consistence by evaporation.
109. TO PRESERVE CANDIED ORANGE FLOWERS.
Free them from their cups, stamina, and pistils, put four ounces into one pound of sugar boiled to a candy height, and poured on a slab, so as to be formed into cakes.
110. TO PRESERVE FRUITS IN BRANDY, OR OTHER SPIRITS.
Gather plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, and other juicy fruits, before they are perfectly ripe, and soak them for some hours in hard, or alum water, to make them firm; as the moisture of the fruit weakens the spirit, it ought to be strong, therefore, add five ounces of sugar to each quart of spirit.
111. SEVILLE ORANGES, WHOLE.
Cut a hole at the stem end of the oranges, the size of sixpence, take out all the pulp, put the oranges into cold water for two days, changing it twice a day; boil them rather more than an hour, but do not cover them, as it will spoil the colour; have ready a good syrup, into which put the oranges, and boil them till they look clear; then take out the seeds, skins, &c. from the pulp first taken out of the oranges, and add to it one of the whole oranges, previously boiled, with an equal weight of sugar to it and the pulp; boil this together till it looks clear, over a slow fire, and when cold fill the oranges with this marmalade, and put on the tops; cover them with syrup, and put brandy paper on the top of the jar. It is better to take out the inside at first, to preserve the fine flavour of the juice and pulp, which would be injured by boiling in the water.
112. CUCUMBERS AND MELONS.
Take large cucumbers, green, and free from seed, put them in a jar of strong salt and water, with vine leaves on the top, set them by the fire side till they are yellow; then wash and set them over a slow fire in alum and water, covered with vine leaves; let them boil till they become green; take them off, and let them stand in the liquor till cold: then quarter them, and take out the seed and pulp; put them in cold spring water, changing it twice a day for three days. Have ready a syrup made thus: to one pound of loaf sugar, half an ounce of ginger bruised, with as much water as will wet it; when it is quite free from scum, put in, when boiling, the rind of a lemon and juice; when quite cold, pour the syrup on the melons. If the syrup is too thin, after standing two or three days, boil it again, and add a little more sugar. A spoonful of rum, gives it the West-Indian flavour. Girkins may be done the same way. One ounce of alum, when pounded, is sufficient for a dozen melons of a middling size.
113. STRAWBERRIES, WHOLE.
Take an equal weight of fruit and double refined sugar, lay the former in a large dish, and sprinkle half the sugar in fine powder; give a gentle shake to the dish, that the sugar may touch the under side of the fruit. Next day make a thin syrup with the remainder of the sugar; and allow one pint of red currant juice, to every three pounds of strawberries; in this simmer them until sufficiently jellied. Choose the largest scarlets, not dead ripe.
114. APRICOTS.
Infuse young apricots before their stones become hard, into a pan of cold spring water, with plenty of vine leaves; set them over a slow fire until they are quite yellow, then take them out and rub them with a flannel and salt to take off the lint; put them into the pan to the same water and leaves, cover them close at a distance from the fire, until they are a fine light green, then pick out all the bad ones. Boil the best gently two or three times in a thin syrup, and let them be quite cold each time before you boil them. When they look plump and clear, make a syrup of double refined sugar, but not too thick; give your apricots a gentle boil in it, and then put them into the pots or glasses, dip a paper in brandy, lay it over them, tie them close, and keep them in a dry place.
115. CANDIED ANGELICA.
The stalks are to be boiled for a quarter of an hour in water, to take away their bitterness, and some of the strong scent; they are then to be put into syrup, boiled to a full candied height, and kept on the fire, until they appear quite dry, and then taken out and drained.
116. CANDIED ERINGO.
Is prepared nearly in the same manner as candied angelica, but the roots are only slit, and washed three or four times in cold water, before they are put into the syrup.
117. GOOSEBERRIES.
Put an ounce of roche alum beat very fine, into a large pan of boiling hard water; place a few gooseberries at the bottom of a hair sieve, and hold them in the water till they turn white. Then take out the sieve, and spread the gooseberries between two cloths; put more into the sieve, and repeat it till they are all done: Put the water into a glazed pot until the next day, then put the gooseberries into wide-mouthed bottles; pick out all the cracked and broken ones, pour the water clear out of the pot, and fill the bottles with it, cork them loosely, and let them stand a fortnight. If they rise to the corks, draw them out and let them stand two or three days uncorked, then cork them close again.
PICKLING.
This branch of domestic economy comprises a great variety of articles which are essentially necessary to the convenience of families.
It is too prevalent a practice to make use of brass utensils to give pickles a fine colour. This pernicious custom is easily avoided by heating the liquor and keeping it in a proper degree of warmth before it is poured upon the pickle. Stone or glass jars are the best adapted for sound keeping.
Pickles should never be handled with the fingers, but taken out by a spoon, with holes in it, kept for the purpose.
The strongest vinegar must be used for pickling. It must not be boiled, as thereby the strength of the vinegar and spices will be evaporated. By parboiling the pickles in brine, they will be ready in half the time they would otherwise be. When taken out of the hot brine, let them get cold and quite dry before you put them into the pickle.
The articles to be pickled should be perforated with a larding pin, in several places, by which means they will the more readily imbibe the flavour of the pickle.
The spices, &c. generally used, are those mentioned in the following receipt for walnuts.
118. TO PICKLE WALNUTS.
Make a brine of salt and water, with a quarter of a pound of salt to a quart of water. Soak the walnuts in this for a week, and if you wish to have them ready the sooner, run a larding pin through them, in half a dozen places, which will make them much softer and better flavoured. Put them into a stew-pan with the brine, and give them a gentle simmer. Lay them on a sieve to drain, then put them on a fish plate in the open air, a couple of days, or till they turn black. Put them into unglazed or stone jars, about three parts full, and fill up the jars with the following pickle;13 and when they have been done about a week, open them and fill them up again, and so on continually, or else they will be spoiled.
119. ONIONS.
Put a sufficient quantity into salt and water for nine days, observing to change the water every day; next put them into jars and pour fresh boiling salt and water over them, cover them close up till they are cold, then make a second decoction of salt and water, and pour it on boiling. When it is cold drain the onions on a hair sieve, and put them into wide-mouthed bottles; fill them up with distilled vinegar; put into every bottle a slice or two of ginger, a blade of mace, and a tea-spoonful of sweet oil, which will keep the onions white. Cork them well up, and keep them in a dry place.
120. SAUR KRAUT.
Take a large strong wooden vessel, or cask, resembling a salt-beef cask, and capable of containing as much as is sufficient for the winter’s consumption of a family. Gradually break down or chop the cabbages (deprived of outside green leaves,) into very small pieces; begin with one or two cabbages at the bottom of the cask, and add others at intervals, pressing them by means of a wooden spade, against the side of the cask, until it is full. Then place a heavy weight upon the top of it, and allow it to stand near to a warm place, for four or five days. By this time it will have undergone fermentation, and be ready for use. Whilst the cabbages are passing through the process of fermentation, a very disagreeable fetid, acid smell is exhaled from them; now remove the cask to a cool situation, and keep it always covered up. Strew aniseeds among the layers of the cabbage during its preparation, which communicates a peculiar flavour to the Saur Kraut at an after period.
In boiling it for the table, two hours is the period for it to be on the fire. It forms an excellent nutritious and antiscorbutic food for winter use.
121. PECCALILLI:—INDIAN METHOD.
This consists of all kinds of pickles mixed and put into one large jar—girkins, sliced cucumbers, button onions, cauliflowers, broken in pieces. Salt them, or put them in a large hair sieve in the sun to dry for three days, then scald them in vinegar for a few minutes; when cold put them together. Cut a large white cabbage in quarters, with the outside leaves taken off and cut fine, salt it, and put it in the sun to dry for three or four days; then scald it in vinegar, the same as cauliflower, carrots, three parts boiled in vinegar and a little bay salt; French beans, rock-samphire, reddish pods, and nastertiums, all go through the same process as girkins, capsicums, &c. To one gallon of vinegar put four ounces of ginger bruised, two ounces of whole white pepper, two ounces of allspice, half an ounce of chillies bruised, four ounces of turmeric, one pound of the best mustard, half a pound of shalots, one ounce of garlic and half a pound of bay salt. The vinegar, spice, and other ingredients, except the mustard, must boil half an hour; then strain it into a pan, put the mustard into a large basin, with a little vinegar; mix it quite fine and free from lumps, then add more; when well mixed put it to the vinegar just strained off, and when quite cold put the pickles into a large pan, and the liquor over them; stir them repeatedly so as to mix them all; finally, put them into a jar, and tie them over first with a bladder, and afterwards with leather. The capsicums want no preparation.
122. SAMPHIRE.
Put what quantity is wanted into a clean pan, throw over it two or three handsful of salt, and cover it with spring water for twenty-four hours; next put it into a clean saucepan, throw in a handful of salt, and cover it with good vinegar. Close the pan tight, set it over a slow fire, and let it stand till the samphire is green and crisp; then take it off instantly, for should it remain till it is soft, it will be totally spoiled. Put it into the pickling pot and cover it close; when it is quite cold tie it down with a bladder and leather, and set it by for use. Samphire may be preserved all the year by keeping it in a very strong brine of salt and water, and just before using it, put it for a few minutes into some of the best vinegar.
123. MUSHROOMS.
Put the smallest that can be got into spring water, and rub them with a piece of new flannel dipped in salt. Throw them into cold water as they are cleaned, which will make them keep their colour; next put them into a saucepan with a handful of salt upon them. Cover them close and set them over the fire four or five minutes, or till the heat draws the liquor from them; next lay them betwixt two dry cloths till they are cold; put them into glass bottles and fill them up with distilled vinegar, with a blade of mace, and a teaspoonful of sweet oil in every bottle; cork them up close and set them in a dry cool place; as a substitute for distilled vinegar, use white wine vinegar, or ale. Allegon will do, but it must be boiled with a little mace, salt, and a few slices of ginger, and it must be quite cold before it is poured upon the mushrooms.
124. Another Method.
Bruise a quantity of well-grown flaps of mushrooms with the hands, and then strew a fair proportion of salt over them; let them stand all night, and the next day put them into stew-pans; set them in a quick oven for twelve hours, and strain them through a hair sieve. To every gallon of liquor put of cloves, Jamaica black pepper, and ginger, one ounce each, and half a pound of common salt; set it on a slow fire, and let it boil till half the liquor is wasted; then put it into a clean pot, and when cold bottle it for use.
125. CUCUMBERS.
Let them be as free from spots as possible; take the smallest that can be got, put them into strong salt and water for nine days, till they become yellow; stir them at least twice a day; should they become perfectly yellow, pour the water off and cover them with plenty of vine leaves. Set the water over the fire, and when it boils, pour it over them, and set them upon the earth to keep warm. When the water is almost cold make it boil again, and pour it upon them; proceed thus till they are of a fine green, which they will be in four or five times; keep them well covered with vine leaves, with a cloth and dish over the top to keep in the steam, which will help to green them.
When they are greened put them in a hair sieve to drain, and then to every two quarts of white wine vinegar put half an ounce of mace, ten or twelve cloves, an ounce of ginger cut into slices, an ounce of black pepper, and a handful of salt. Boil them all together for five minutes; pour it hot on the pickles, and tie them down for use. They may also be pickled with ale, ale vinegar, or distilled vinegar, and adding three or four cloves of garlic and shalots.
126. ARTIFICIAL ANCHOVIES.
To a peck of sprats put two pounds of salt, three ounces of bay-salt, one pound of salt-petre, two ounces of prunella, and a few grains of cochineal; pound all in a mortar, put into a stone pan first a layer of sprats, and then one of the compound, and so on alternately to the top. Press them down hard; cover them close for six months, and they will be fit for use, and will really produce a most excellent flavoured sauce.
127. SALMON.
Boil the fish gently till done, and then take it up, strain the liquor, add bay leaves, pepper corns, and salt; give these a boil, and when cold add the best vinegar to them; then put the whole sufficiently over the fish to cover it, and let it remain a month at least.
128. TO PRESERVE FISH BY SUGAR.
Fish may be preserved in a dry state, and perfectly fresh, by means of sugar alone, and even with a very small quantity of it.
Fresh fish may be kept in that state for some days, so as to be as good when boiled as if just caught. If dried, and kept free from mouldiness, there seems no limit to their preservation; and they are much better in this way than when salted. The sugar gives no disagreeable taste.
This process is particularly valuable in making what is called kippered salmon; and the fish preserved in this manner are far superior in quality and flavour to those which are salted or smoked. If desired, as much salt may be used as to give the taste that may be required; but this substance does not conduce to their preservation.
In the preparation, it is barely necessary to open the fish, and to apply the sugar to the muscular parts, placing it in a horizontal position for two or three days, that this substance may penetrate. After this it may be dried; and it is only further necessary to wipe and ventilate it occasionally, to prevent mouldiness.
A table spoonful of brown sugar is sufficient in this manner for a salmon of five or six pounds weight; and if salt is desired, a tea spoonful or more may be added. Saltpetre may be used instead, in the same proportion, if it is desired to make the kipper hard.
129. TO SALT HAMS.
For three hams pound and mix together half a peck of salt, half an ounce of salt prunella, three ounces of salt-petre, and four pounds of coarse salt; rub the hams well with this, and lay what is to spare over them, let them lie three days, then hang them up. Take the pickle in which the hams were, put water enough to cover the hams, with more common salt, till it will bear an egg, then boil and skim it well, put it in the salting tub, and the next morning put it in the hams; keep them down the same as pickled pork; in a fortnight take them out of the liquor, rub them well with brine, and hang them up to dry.
130. TO DRY SALT BEEF AND PORK.
Lay the meat on a table or in a tub with a double bottom, that the brine may drain off as fast as it forms, rub the salt well in, and be careful to apply it to every niche; afterwards put it into either of the above utensils; when it must be frequently turned, after the brine has ceased running, it must be quite buried in salt, and kept closely packed. Meat which has had the bones taken out is the best for salting. In some places the salted meat is pressed by heavy weights, or a screw, to extract the moisture sooner.
131. TO PICKLE IN BRINE.
A good brine is made of bay salt and water, thoroughly saturated, so that some of the salt remains undissolved; into this brine the substances to be preserved are plunged, and kept covered with it. Among vegetables, French beans, artichokes, olives, and the different sorts of samphire, may be thus preserved, and among animals, herrings.
132. To Salt by another Method.
Mix brown sugar, bay salt, common salt, each two pounds, saltpetre eight ounces, water two gallons; this pickle gives meats a fine red colour, while the sugar renders them mild and of excellent flavour.—Large quantities are to be managed by the above proportions.
BRITISH WINES.
The different processes in wine making, range themselves under the following heads:
Gathering the fruit,—picking the fruit,—bruising the fruit,—and vatting the fruit.
Vinous fermentation, flavouring the wine,—drawing the must,—pressing the husks,—casking the must.
Spirituous fermentation, racking the wine,—fuming the wine,—bottling and corking the wine.
APPARATUS FOR WINE MAKING.
To make wine well, and with facility, persons should have all the requisite apparatus, namely, the vats, vat-staff, fruit-bruiser, strainer, hair-bags, canvas-bags, wine-press, thermometer, and bottling-machine.
133. GATHERING THE FRUIT.
Fruit of every description, says Mr. Carnell, in his excellent treatise on wine making, should be gathered in fine weather; those of the berry kind often appear ripe to the eye before they really are so, therefore it is requisite to taste them several times in order to ascertain that they are arrived at the crisis of maturity. If the fruit be not ripe, the wine will be harsh and hard, and unpleasant to the palate, and more so to the stomach; it will also take more spirit and saccharine, and take a longer time to be fit for the table. If the fruit be too ripe, the wine from it will be faint, low, and vapid; it will not be strong and generous; it will also require more trouble, additional spirit, and expense.
134. PICKING.
Detach the unripe and bad berries: the result when the wine is drank, will be greatly superior in richness. Pick the stalks from grapes, currants, and gooseberries, previously to their being placed in the vat.
135. BRUISING.
The quantity of fruit for making a vintage of domestic wine, is not so large but it may be bruised in a tub, and from thence removed into the vat, or if the quantity be very small, it may be bruised in the vat. While the fruit is picking by one person, another may bruise it, and as it is bruised remove it into the vat. When Malaga or Smyrna raisins are used, they are to be put into the vat with the water, to soak, and the following day taken out and bruised, then returned into the vat again.
136. VATTING.
The first thing to be done is to place the guard against the tap-hole, to prevent the husks escaping at the time the must or extract is drawn off. When all the fruit is in the vat the water should be added, and the contents stirred with the vat-staff, and left to macerate until the next day, when sugar, tartar, &c. diluted with some of the liquor, is to be put into the vat, and the whole again stirred up. The place where the vat is situated should have a free circulation of air, and a temperature of not less than 58 degrees. If the vinous fermentation do not take place, in a reasonable time, the contents must be often stirred, and the place made warmer.
137. VINOUS FERMENTATION.
The time of a vinous fermentation commencing is always uncertain; it depends much on the quality and quantity of the contents of the vat, on its local situation, on the season or weather, and most particularly on the greenness or ripeness of the fruit. To produce a medium vinous fermentation, the vats and contents ought to be placed in a temperature from 60 to 70 degrees. And if this is found not to produce fermentation in a short time, the temperature of the place must be made warmer, and the vat often stirred with the vat-staff.
The commencement of the vinous fermentation may be known by plunging the thermometer into the middle of the vat, for a minute, and when taken out, if a fermentation has commenced, the temperature of the contents will be higher than at the place where the vats are situated. When the vinous fermentation begins, it is very conspicuous, and may be known by its taste, smell, appearance, and effects. The contents will first gently rise, and swell with a slight movement and a little hissing. A considerable motion will take place, and the contents will increase in heat and bulk, while a quantity of air escapes.
It is impossible to lay down an exact time for a vinous fermentation; but for eighteen gallons, two or three days are generally sufficient for white wines; and red wines require a day or two more.
138. FLAVOURING.
When the vinous fermentation is about half over, the flavouring ingredients are to be put into the vat and well stirred into the contents. If almonds form a component part, they are first to be beaten to a paste and mixed with a pint or two of the must. Nutmegs, cinnamon, ginger, seeds, &c. should, before they are put into the vat, be reduced to powder, and mixed with some of the must.
139. DRAWING THE MUST.
When the must in the vat gives, by tasting, a strong vinous pungency, that is the period to stop the remaining slight fermentation, by drawing off the must, in order to have strong and generous wine.
A cock, or spicket and faucet, is to be put into the tap-hole of the vat, and the must drawn off and put into open vessels, there to remain till the pressing is finished.
140. PRESSING THE HUSKS.
As soon as all the must is drawn off from the vat, the husks are to be put into hair-bags, and the mouth of each bag is to be well fastened, then put into the press, and the whole pressed without delay. The must that is pressed out is to be mixed with the must that was drawn off from the vat. Many ways may be contrived for pressing a small vintage, for those persons who cannot afford to purchase a proper wine-press; but several wines do not require pressing; and may be strained through a sweet, clean, canvas bag, made with a pointed end downwards.
141. CASKING THE MUST.
Each cask is to be filled, within about an inch of the bung-hole, which should be covered over lightly with a flat piece of wood. The must now is perfectly cool and calm, and will remain in this state until the spirituous fermentation commences.
142. SPIRITUOUS FERMENTATION.
The spirituous fermentation is essentially necessary to the clarification, goodness, and perfection of the wine. If the vinous fermentation has been well conducted, and the wine cellar be not too cold, a spirituous fermentation will commence in a few days, and abate in six or twelve days, the time depending on circumstances, and on the quality and quantity of the wine. The brandy or spirit assigned should at this time be put to the wine by pouring it in gently without disturbing the wine. The cask now, if not full, must be filled up and bunged with a wooden bung covered with a piece of new canvass larger than the bung. In about a month after the spirit has been added, the cask will again want filling up; this should be done with the overplus of the vintage, if not with some other good wine, and the cask re-bunged very tight. The cask should be pegged once a month or oftener to see if the wine be clear and not thick, and as soon as it is fine and bright, it must be racked off its lees.
143. RACKING.
This is an operation highly requisite to the keeping wine good; to its purification, strength, colour, brilliancy, richness, and flavour, and is performed by drawing off the wine and leaving the lees in the cask. A siphon should be used but if not, the cask should be tapped two or three days previously. It may be racked off into another cask, or into a vat or tub, and returned into the same cask again, after it has been well cleaned; and, if requisite, the cask may be slightly fumigated, immediately before the wine is returned into it. If the wine, on being tasted, is found weak, a little spirit is to be given to it, the cask filled up and bunged tight.
The racking off ought to be performed in temperate weather, and as soon as the wines appear clear, a second racking will make them perfectly brilliant, and if so they will want no fining.
144. FINING.
Many wines require fining before they are racked, and the operation of fining is not always necessary. Most wines, well made, do not want fining; this may be ascertained by drawing a little into a glass, from a peg-hole.
One of the best finings is as follows:—Take one pound of fresh marsh-mallow roots, washed clean, and cut into small pieces; macerate them in two quarts of soft water, for twenty-four hours, then gently boil the liquor down to three half pints, strain it, and when cold, mix with it half an ounce of pipe-clay or chalk, in powder, then pour the mucilage into the cask, and stir up the wine so as not to disturb the lees, and leave the vent-peg out for some days after.
Or, take boiled rice, two table-spoonsful, the white of one new egg, and half an ounce of burnt alum, in powder. Mix with a pint or more of the wine, then pour the mucilage into the cask, and stir the wine with a stout stick, but not to agitate the lees.
Or, dissolve, in a gentle heat, half an ounce of isinglass in a pint or more of the wine, then mix with it half an ounce of chalk, in powder; when the two are well incorporated, pour it into the cask, and stir the wine so as not to disturb the lees.
As soon as wines are clear and bright, after being fined down, they ought to be racked into a sweet and clean cask, the cask filled up and bunged tight.
145. BOTTLING AND CORKING.
Fine clear weather is best for bottling all sorts of wines, and much cleanliness is required. The first consideration, in bottling wines, is to examine and see if the wines are in a proper state. The wines should be fine and brilliant, or they will never brighten after.
The bottles must be all sound, clean, and dry, with plenty of good sound corks.
The cork is to be put in with the hand, and then driven well in with a flat wooden mallet, the weight of which ought to be a pound and a quarter, but however, not to exceed a pound and a half, for if the mallet be too light or too heavy it will not drive the cork in properly, and may break the bottle. The corks must so completely fill up the neck of each bottle as to render them air tight, but leave a space of an inch between the wine and the cork.
When all the wine is bottled, it is to be stored in a cool cellar, and on no account on the bottles’ bottoms, but on their sides and in saw-dust.
146. MR. CARNELL’s RECEIPT FOR RED GOOSEBERRY WINE.
Take cold soft water, 10 gallons,
red gooseberries, 11 gallons, and ferment.
Now mix raw sugar, 16 lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs. and
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 ounces.
Afterwards put in sassafras chips, 1 lb. and
brandy, 1 gallon, or less.
This will make 18 gallons.
147. Another.
When the weather is dry, gather gooseberries about the time they are half ripe; pick them clean, put the quantity of a peck into a convenient vessel, and bruise them with a piece of wood, taking as much care as possible to keep the seeds whole. Now, having put the pulp into a canvass-bag, press out all the juice; and to every gallon of the gooseberries add about three pounds of fine loaf-sugar: mix the whole together by stirring it with a stick, and as soon as the sugar is quite dissolved, pour it into a convenient cask, which will hold it exactly. If the quantity be about eight or nine gallons, let it stand a fortnight; if twenty gallons, forty days, and so on in proportion; taking care the place you set it in be cool. After standing the proper time, draw it off from the lees, and put it into another clean vessel of equal size, or into the same, after pouring the lees out, and making it clean; let a cask of ten or twelve gallons stand for about three months, and twenty gallons for five months, after which it will be fit for bottling off.
148. RED AND WHITE GOOSEBERRY WINE.
Take cold soft water, 3 gallons,
red gooseberries, 1½ gallons,
white gooseberries, 2 gallons.
Ferment.
Now mix raw sugar, 5 lbs.
honey, 1½ lbs.
tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.
Afterwards put in bitter almonds, two ounces,
sweet-briar, one small handful, and
brandy one gallon, or less.
This will make six gallons.
149. WHITE GOOSEBERRY OR CHAMPAIGNE WINE.
Take cold soft water, 4½ gallons,
white gooseberries, 5 gallons.
Ferment.
Now mix refined sugar, 6 pounds,
honey, 4 pounds,
white tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.
Put in orange and lemon peel, one ounce dry, or two ounces fresh; and add
white brandy ½ a gallon.
This will make nine gallons.
150. GOOSEBERRY WINE OF THE BEST QUALITY, RESEMBLING CHAMPAIGNE.
To each Scotch pint of full ripe gooseberries, mashed, add one Scotch pint of water, milk-warm, in which has been dissolved 1 lb. of single refined sugar: stir the whole well, and cover up the tub with a blanket, to preserve the heat generated by the fermentation of the ingredients: let them remain in this vessel three days, stirring them twice or three times a day: strain off the liquor through a sieve, afterwards through a coarse linen cloth; put it into the casks it will ferment without yeast. Let the cask be kept full with some of the liquor reserved for the purpose. It will ferment for ten days, sometimes for three weeks: when ceased, and only a hissing noise remains, draw off two or three bottles, according to the strength you wish it to have, from every 20 pint cask, and fill up the cask with brandy or whiskey; but brandy is preferable. To make it very good, and that it may keep well, add as much sherry, together with a ¼ oz. of isinglass dissolved in water to make it quite liquid; stir the whole well. Bung the cask up, and surround the bung with clay; the closer it is bunged the better; a fortnight after, if it be clear at the top, taste it; if not sweet enough, add more sugar; 22 lbs. is the just quantity in all for 20 pints of wine; leave the wine six months in the cask; but after being quite fine, the sooner it is bottled, the more it will sparkle and resemble champaigne. The process should be carried on in a place where the heat is between 48° and 56° Fahrenheit.—N. B. Currant wine may be made in the same manner.
151. TO MAKE BRITISH CHAMPAIGNE.
Take gooseberries before they are ripe, crush them with a mallet in a wooden bowl, and to every gallon of fruit put a gallon of water; let it stand two days, stirring it well; squeeze the mixture with the hands through a hop-sieve; then measure the liquor, and to every gallon put 3½ lbs. of loaf sugar; mix it well in the tub, and let it stand one day; put a bottle of the best brandy into the cask; which leave open five or six weeks, taking off the scum as it rises; then make it up, and let it stand one year in the barrel before it is bottled.
The proportion of brandy to be used for this liquor, is one pint to 7 gallons.
152. GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT WINE MIXED.
Take cold soft water, 6 gallons,
gooseberries, 4 do.
currants, 4 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 12 lbs.
honey, 3 lbs. and
tartar, in fine powder, 1½ oz.
bitter almonds, 1½ oz.
Put in brandy 6 pints, or more.
This will make 12 gallons.
153. Another.
Take cold soft water, 5½ gallons,
gooseberries and currants, 4 gallons.
Ferment.
Then add
raw sugar, 12½ lbs.
tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.
ginger, in powder, 3 ounces,
sweet marjoram, ½ a handful,
British spirits, 1 quart.
This will make 9 gallons.
154. RED CURRANT WINE.
Take cold soft water, 11 gallons,
red currants, 8 gallons,
raspberries, 1 quart.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 20 lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs. and
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 ounces.
Put in 1 nutmeg, in fine powder; add
brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
155. Another.
Boil four gallons of spring water, and stir into it 1 lb. of honey; when thoroughly dissolved, take it off the fire; then stir it well in order to raise the scum, which take clean off, and cool the liquor.
When thus prepared, press out the same quantity of the juice of red currants moderately ripe, which being well strained, mix well with the water and honey, then put them into a cask, or a large earthen vessel, and let them stand to ferment for 24 hours; then to every gallon add 2 lbs. of fine sugar, stir them well to raise the scum, and when well settled, take it off, and add ½ oz. of cream of tartar, with the whites of two or three eggs, to refine it. When the wine is well settled and clear, draw it off into a small vessel, or bottle it up, keeping it in a cool place.
Of white currants, a wine after the same manner may be made, that will equal in strength and pleasantness many sorts of white wine; but as for the black, or Dutch currants, they are seldom used, except for the preparation of medicinal wines.
156. Another.
Gather the currants in dry weather, put them into a pan and bruise them with a wooden pestle; let them stand about 20 hours, after which strain through a sieve; add 3 lbs. of fine powdered sugar to each four quarts of the liquor, and after shaking it well, fill the vessel and put a quart of good brandy to every 7 gallons. In 4 weeks, if it does not prove quite clear, draw it off into another vessel, and let it stand, previously to bottling it off, about ten days.
157. RED AND WHITE CURRANT WINE.
Take cold soft water, 12 gallons,
white currants, 4 do.
red currants, 3 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.
white tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
Put in sweet-briar leaves, 1 handful,
lavender leaves, 1 do.
then add spirits, 2 quarts or more.
This will make 18 gallons.
158. DUTCH CURRANT WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 9 gallons,
red currants, 10 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 1O lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Put in bitter almonds, 1 oz.
ginger, in powder, 2 oz.
then add brandy, 1 quart.
This will make 18 gallons.
159. DUTCH RED CURRANT WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 11 gallons,
red currants, 8 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 12 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Put in coriander seed, bruised, 2 oz.
then add British spirit, 2 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
160. MIXED BERRIES, FROM A SMALL GARDEN.
Take of cold soft water, 11 gallons,
fruit 8 do.
Ferment.
Mix, treacle, 14 or 16 lbs.
tartar, in powder, 1 oz.
Put in ginger, in powder, 4 oz.
sweet herbs, 2 handsful:
then add spirits, 1 or 2 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
161. COMPOUND WINE.
An excellent family wine may be made of equal parts of red, white, and black currants, ripe cherries, and raspberries, well bruised, and mixed with soft water, in the proportion of 4 lbs. of fruit to 1 gallon of water. When strained and pressed, 3 lbs. of moist sugar are to be added to each gallon of liquid. After standing open for three days, during which it is to be stirred frequently, it is to be put into a barrel, and left for a fortnight to work, when a ninth part of the brandy is to be added, and the whole bunged down. In a few months it will be a most excellent wine.
162. OTHER MIXED FRUITS, OF THE BERRY KIND.
Take of cold soft water, 2 gallons.
fruit, 18 do.
Ferment.
Mix, honey, 6 lbs.
tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Put in peach-leaves, 6 handsful;
then add brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
163. WHITE CURRANT WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 9 gallons,
white currants, 9 gallons,
white gooseberries, 1 do.
Ferment.
Mix, refined sugar, 25 lbs.
white tartar, in powder, 1 oz.
clary seed, bruised, 2 oz. or
clary flowers, or sorrel flowers, 4 handsful;
then add, white brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
164. Another.
Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
white currants, 10 do.
Ferment.
Mix, refined sugar, 25 lbs.
white tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.
then add, bitter almonds, 2 oz. and
white brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
165. BLACK CURRANT WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
black currants, 6 do.
strawberries, 3 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz.
orange thyme, 2 handsful;
then add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
166. Another.
Take of cold soft water, 12 gallons,
black currants, 5 do.
white or red currants, or both, 3 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 30 lbs. or less,
red tartar, in fine powder, 5 oz.
ginger, in powder, 5 oz.
then add brandy, 1 gallon, or less.
This will make 18 gallons.
167. STRAWBERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 7 gallons,
cider, 6 do.
strawberries, 6 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 16 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
the peel and juice of two lemons;
then add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
168. Another.
Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
strawberries, 9 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
2 lemons and 2 oranges, peel and juice;
then add brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
169. RASPBERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 6 gallons,
cider, 4 do.
raspberries, 6 do.
any other fruit, 3 do.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 18 or 20 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
orange and lemon peel, 2 oz. dry, or 4 oz. fresh;
then add brandy, 3 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
170. Another.
Gather the raspberries when ripe, husk them and bruise them; then strain them through a bag into jars or other vessels. Boil the juice, and to every gallon put a pound and a half of lump-sugar. Now add whites of eggs, and let the whole boil for fifteen minutes, skimming it, as the froth rises. When cool and settled, decant the liquor into a cask, adding yeast to make it ferment. When this has taken place, add a pint of white wine, or half a pint of proof spirit to each gallon contained in the cask, and hang a bag in it containing an ounce of bruised mace. In three months, if kept in a cool place, it will be very excellent and delicious wine.
171. MULBERRY WINE.
On a dry day, gather mulberries, when they are just changed from redness to a shining black; spread them thinly on a fine cloth, or on a floor or table, for twenty-four hours; and then press them. Boil a gallon of water with each gallon of juice; putting to every gallon of water, an ounce of cinnamon bark, and six ounces of sugar candy finely powdered. Skim and strain the water when it is taken off and settled, and put to it the mulberry juice. Now add to every gallon of the mixture, a pint of white or Rhenish wine. Let the whole stand in a cask to ferment, for five or six days. When settled, draw it off into bottles, and keep it cool.
172. ELDER-BERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 16 gallons,
Malaga raisins, 50 lbs.
Elder-berries, 4 gallons,
red tartar, in fine powder, 4 ounces.
Mix ginger, in powder, 5 ounces,
cinnamon, cloves, and mace, of each 2 ounces,
3 oranges or lemons, peel and juice.
Then add 1 gallon of brandy.
This will make 18 gallons.
173. Another.
In making elder juice, let the berries be fully ripe, and all the stalks be clean picked from them; then, have a press ready for drawing off all the juice, and four hair cloths, somewhat broader than the press; lay one layer above another, having a hair cloth betwixt every layer, which must be laid very thin and pressed a little at first, and then more till the press be drawn as close as possible. Now take out the berries, and press all the rest in the like manner: then take the pressed berries, break out all the lumps, put them into an open-headed vessel, and add as much liquor as will just cover them. Let them infuse so for seven or eight days; then put the best juice into a cask proper for it to be kept in, and add one gallon of malt spirits, not rectified, to every twenty gallons, of elder juice, which will effectually preserve it from becoming sour for two years at least.
174. Another.
Pick the berries when quite ripe, put them into a stone jar, and set them in an oven, or in a kettle of boiling water, till the jar is hot through, then take them out, and strain them through a coarse sieve; squeeze the berries, and put the juice into a clean kettle. To every quart of juice put a pound of fine Lisbon sugar; let it boil, and skim it well. When clear and fine, pour it into a cask. To every ten gallons of wine add an ounce of isinglass dissolved in cider, and six whole eggs. Close it up, let it stand six months, and then bottle it.
175. IMITATION OF CYPRUS WINE.
To ten gallons of water, put ten quarts of the juice of white elder-berries, pressed gently from the berries by the hand, and passed through a sieve, without bruising the seeds: add to every gallon of liquor three pounds of Lisbon sugar, and to the whole quantity two ounces of ginger sliced, and one ounce of cloves. Boil this nearly an hour, taking off the scum as it rises, and pour the whole to cool, in an open tub, and work it with ale yeast, spread upon a toast of bread, for three days. Then turn it into a vessel that will just hold it, adding about a pound and a half of bruised raisins, to lay in the liquor till drawn off, which should not be done till the wine is fine.
This wine is so much like the fine rich wine brought from the island of Cyprus, in colour, taste, and flavour, that it has deceived the best judges.
176. ELDER-FLOWER WINE; OR ENGLISH FRONTINIAC.
Boil eighteen pounds of white powdered sugar in six gallons of water, and two whites of eggs well beaten; skim it, and put in a quarter of a peck of elder-flowers; do not keep them on the fire. When cool, stir it, and put in six spoonsful of lemon juice, four or five of yeast, and beat well into the liquor: stir it well every day; put six pounds of the best raisins, stoned, into the cask, and tun the wine. Stop it close, and bottle it in six months. When well kept, this wine will pass very well for Frontiniac.
177. Another.
To six gallons of spring water put six pounds of sun raisins cut small, and a dozen pounds of fine sugar; boil the whole together for about an hour and a half. When the liquor is cold, put half a peck of ripe elder flowers in, with about a gill of lemon-juice, and half the quantity of ale yeast. Cover it up, and, after standing three days, strain it off. Now pour it into a cask that is quite clean, and that will hold it with ease. When this is done, put a quart of Rhenish wine to every gallon; let the bung be slightly put in for twelve or fourteen days; then stop it down fast, and put it in a cool place for four or five months, till it be quite settled and fine; then bottle it off.
178. IMITATION OF PORT WINE.
Take 6 gallons of good cider,
1½ gallons of port wine,
1½ gallons of the juice of elder-berries,
3 quarts of brandy,
1½ ounces of cochineal.
This will produce nine gallons and a half.
Bruise the cochineal very fine, and put it with the brandy into a stone bottle; let it remain at least a fortnight, shaking it well once or twice a day; at the end of that time to procure the cider, and put five gallons into a nine gallon cask, add to it the elder juice and port wine, then the brandy and cochineal. Take the remaining gallon of cider to rinse out the bottle that contained the brandy; and lastly, pour it into the cask, and bung it down very close, and in six weeks it will be fit for bottling.
It is, however, sometimes not quite so fine as could be wished; in that case add two ounces of isinglass, and let it remain a fortnight or three weeks longer, when it will be perfectly bright; it would not be amiss, perhaps, if the quantity of isinglass mentioned, was added to the wine before it was bunged down, it will tend, very considerably, to improve the body of the wine. If it should not appear sufficiently rough flavoured, add an ounce, or an ounce and a half of roche-alum, which will, in most cases, impart a sufficient astringency.
After it is bottled it must be packed in as cool a place as possible. It will be fit for using in a few months; but if kept longer, it will be greatly improved.
179. WORTLEBERRY, OR BILBERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 6 gallons,
cider, 6 gallons,
berries, 8 gallons;
Ferment.
Mix raw sugar 20 pounds,
tartar, in fine powder, 4 ounces.
Add ginger, in powder, 4 ounces,
lavender and rosemary leaves, 2 handsful,
rum, or British spirits, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
180. BIRCH WINE.
The season for obtaining the liquor from birch-trees, is in the latter end of February, or the beginning of March, before the leaves shoot out, and as the sap begins to rise. If the time is delayed, the juice will grow too thick to be drawn out. It should be as thin and clear as possible. The method of procuring the juice, is by boring holes in the trunk of the tree, and fixing faucets of elder; but care should be taken not to tap it in too many places at once, for fear of injuring the tree. If the tree is large, it may be bored in five or six places at once, and bottles are to be placed under the apertures for the sap to flow into. When four or five gallons have been extracted from different trees, cork the bottles very close and wax them till the wine is to be made, which should be as soon as possible after the sap has been obtained. Boil the sap, and put four pounds of loaf sugar to every gallon, also the peel of a lemon cut thin; then boil it again for nearly an hour, skimming it all the time. Now pour it into a tub, and as soon as it is cold, work it with a toast spread with yeast, and let it stand five or six days, stirring it twice or three times each day. Into a cask that will contain it, put a lighted brimstone match, stop it up till the match is burnt out, and then pour the wine into it, putting the bung lightly in, till it has done working. Bung it very close for about three months, and then bottle it. It will be good in a week after it is put into the bottles.
181. Another.
Birch wine may be made with raisins in the following manner: To a hogshead of birch-water, take four hundred of Malaga raisins: pick them clean from the stalks, and cut them small. Then boil the birch liquor for one hour at least, skim it well, and let it stand till it be no warmer than milk. Then put in the raisins, and let it stand close covered, stirring it well four or five times every day. Boil all the stalks in a gallon or two of birch liquor, which, when added to the other, when almost cold, will give it an agreeable roughness. Let it stand ten days, then put it in a cool cellar, and when it has done hissing in the vessel, stop it up close. It must stand at least nine months before it is bottled.
182. BLACKBERRY WINE.
Having procured berries that are fully ripe, put them into a large vessel of wood or stone, with a cock in it, and pour upon them as much boiling water as will cover them. As soon as the heat will permit the hand to be put into the vessel, bruise them well till all the berries are broken. Then let them stand covered till the berries begin to rise towards the top, which they usually do in three or four days. Then draw off the clear into another vessel, and add to every ten quarts of this liquor, a pound of sugar. Stir it well and let it stand to work a week or ten days, in another vessel like the first. Then draw it off at the cock through a jelly-bag into a large vessel. Take four ounces of isinglass, and lay it to steep twelve hours in a pint of white wine. The next morning, boil it upon a slow fire till it is all dissolved. Then take a gallon of blackberry-juice, put in the dissolved isinglass, give them a boil together, and pour all into the vessel. Let it stand a few days to purge and settle, then draw it off, and keep it in a cool place.
183. SPRUCE WINE.
For this, which is only a superior sort of white spruce beer, proceed as follows: To every gallon of water take 1½ lbs. of honey, and ½ a pound of fine starch. The starch, however, previously to its being blended with the honey, liquor, or syrup, must be reduced to a fine transparent jelly, by boiling it with part of the water purposely preserved. A quarter of a pound of essence of spruce may be used to 6 gallons of water; and the same method may be pursued in working, fining, and bottling, as directed for white spruce beer.
Spruce is a wholesome and pleasant drink to those who are used to it, and persons soon become habituated. It contains a vast quantity of fixed air, which is extremely bracing; and the use of this liquor is particularly to be recommended to such as are troubled with scorbutic humours, or have the gravel. It is chiefly used in summer.
184. JUNIPER-BERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 18 gallons,
Malaga or Smyrna raisins, 35 lbs.
juniper berries, 9 quarts,
red tartar, 4 ounces,
wormwood and sweet marjoram, each 2 handsful.
British spirit, two quarts, or more.
Ferment for ten or twelve days.
—This will make eighteen gallons.
185. DAMSON WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 11 gallons,
damsons, 8 gallons;
Ferment.
Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz.
Add brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
“When the must,” says Mr. Carnell, “has fermented 2 days, (during which time it should be stirred up two or three times,) take out of the vat about two or three quarts of the stones, and break them and the kernels, and then return them into the vat again.”
186. Another Method.
Take a considerable quantity of damsons and common plums inclining to ripeness: slit them in halves, so that the stones may be taken out, then mash them gently, and add a little water and honey. Add to every gallon of the pulp a gallon of spring water, with a few bay-leaves and cloves; boil the mixture, and add as much sugar as will well sweeten it; skim off the froth and let it cool. Now press the fruit, squeezing out the liquid part; strain all through a fine strainer, and put the water and juice together in a cask. Having allowed the whole to stand and ferment for three or four days, fine it with white sugar, flour, and whites of eggs; draw it off into bottles, then cork it well. In twelve days it will be ripe, and will taste like weak Port, having the flavour of Canary.
187. Another.
Gather the damsons on a dry day, weigh them, and bruise them. Put them into a stein that has a cock in it, and to every 8 pounds of fruit add a gallon of water. Boil the water, skim it, and put it scalding hot to the fruit. Let it stand two days, then draw it off and put it into a vessel, and to every gallon of liquor put 2½ lbs. of fine sugar. Fill up the vessel, and stop it close, and the longer it stands the better. Keep it for twelve months in the vessel, and then bottle, putting a lump of sugar into every bottle. The small damson is the best for this purpose.
188. CHERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
cherries, 10 gallons.
Ferment.
Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs.
red tartar in fine powder, 3 oz.
Add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
Two days after the cherries have been in the vat, Mr. Carnell says, we should take out about three quarts of the cherry stones, break them and the kernels, and return them into the vat again.
189. Another.
Take cherries, nearly ripe, of any red sort, clear them of the stalks and stones, then put them into a glazed earthen vessel, and squeeze them to a pulp. Let them remain in this state for twelve hours to ferment; then put them into a linen cloth not too fine, and press out the juice with a pressing board, or any other convenient instrument. Now let the liquor stand till the scum rises, and with a ladle or skimmer take it clean off; then pour the clearer part, by inclination, into a cask, where, to each gallon put a pound of the best loaf sugar, and let it ferment for seven or eight days. Draw it off, when clear, into lesser casks, or bottles; keep it cool as other wines, and in ten or twelve days it will be ripe.
190. MORELLA WINE.
Cleanse from the stalks, sixty pounds of Morella cherries, and bruise them so that the stones shall be broken. Now press out the juice and mix it with 6 gallons of sherry wine, and four gallons of warm water. Having grossly powdered separate ounces of nutmeg, cinnamon, and mace, hang them separately, in small bags, in the cask containing the mixture. Bung it down, and in a few weeks it will become a deliciously flavoured wine.
191. PEACH WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 18 gallons,
refined sugar, 25 lbs.
honey, 6 lbs.
white tartar, in fine powder, 2 ounces,
Peaches, sixty or eighty in number.
Ferment.
Then add 2 gallons of brandy.
This will make 18 gallons.
The first division is to be put into the vat, and the day after, before the peaches are put in take the stones from them, break them and the kernels, then put them and the pulp into the vat, and proceed with the general process.
192. PEACH AND APRICOT WINE.
Take peaches, nectarines, &c. pare them, and take the stones out; then slice them thin, and pour over them from a gallon to two gallons of water, and a quart of white wine. Place the whole on a fire to simmer gently for a considerable time, till the sliced fruit becomes soft; pour off the liquid part into another vessel containing more peaches that have been sliced but not heated; let them stand for twelve hours, then pour out the liquid part, and press what remains through a fine hair bag. Let the whole be now put into a cask to ferment; add of loaf-sugar, a pound and a half to each gallon. Boil well, an ounce of beaten cloves in a quart of white wine, and add to it the above.
Apricot wine may be made by only bruising the fruit and pouring the hot liquor over it. This wine does not require so much sweetening. To give it a curious flavour, boil an ounce of mace, and half an ounce of nutmegs, in a quart of white wine; and when the wine is fermenting, pour the liquid in hot. In about twenty days, or a month, these wines will be fit for bottling.
193. APRICOT WINE.
Boil together three pounds of sugar, and three quarts of water; and skim it well. Put in six pounds of apricots pared and stoned, and let them boil till they become tender. Then take them up, and when the liquor is cold, bottle it. After taking out the apricots, let the liquor be boiled with a sprig of flowered clary. The apricots will make marmalade, and be very good for present use.
194. LEMON WINE.
Pare off the rinds of six large lemons, cut them, and squeeze out the juice. Steep the rinds in the juice, and put to it a quart of brandy. Let it stand three days in an earthen pot close stopped; then squeeze six more, and mix with it two quarts of spring water, and as much sugar as will sweeten the whole. Boil the water, lemons, and sugar together, and let it stand till it be cool. Then add a quart of white wine, and the other lemons and brandy: mix them together, and run it through a flannel bag into some vessel. Let it stand three months and then bottle it off.
Cork the bottle well; keep it cool, and it will be fit to drink in a month or six weeks.
195. Another.
Pare five dozen of lemons very thin, put the peels into five quarts of French brandy, and let them stand fourteen days. Then make the juice into a syrup with 3 lbs. of single refined sugar, and when the peels are ready, boil 51 gallons of water, with 40 lbs. of single refined sugar for half an hour. Then put it into a tub, and when cool, add to it one spoonful of yeast, and let it work two days. Then tun it, and put in the brandy, peels, and syrup. Stir them altogether, and close up the cask. Let it stand three months, then bottle it, and it will be as pale and as fine as any citron water.
196. APPLE WHITE WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 2 gallons,
apples, well bruised, 3 bushels,
honey, 10 lbs.
white tartar, 2 ounces,
1 nutmeg, in powder,
rum, 2 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
197. APPLE WINE.
To every gallon of apple juice, immediately it comes from the press, add 2 lbs. of common loaf sugar; boil it as long as any scum rises, then strain it through a sieve, and let it cool; add some good yeast, and stir it well; let it work in the tub for two or three weeks, or till the head begins to flatten, then skim off the head, draw it clear off, and tun it. When made a year, rack it off, and fine it with isinglass; then add ½ a pint of the best rectified spirit of wine, or a pint of French brandy, to every 8 gallons.
198. APPLE RED WINE.
Take of cold, soft water, 2 gallons,
apples, well bruised, 3 bushels.
Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 15 lbs.
beet-root sliced, 4 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
then add ginger, in powder, 3 oz.
rosemary and lavender leaves, of each 2 handsful,
British spirits, 2 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
199. QUINCE WINE.
Gather the quinces when pretty ripe, in a dry day, rub off the down with a linen cloth, then lay them in hay or straw for ten days, to perspire. Now cut them in quarters, take out the cores, and bruise them well in a mashing tub with a wooden pestle. Squeeze out the liquid part, by pressing them in a hair bag, by degrees, in a cider press; strain this liquor through a fine sieve, then warm it gently over a fire, and skim it, but do not suffer it to boil. Now sprinkle into it some loaf-sugar reduced to powder; then, in a gallon of water and a quart of white wine, boil 12 or 14 large quinces thinly sliced: add 2 lbs. of fine sugar, and then strain off the liquid part, and mingle it with the natural juice of the quinces; put this into a cask (not to fill it) and mix them well together; then let it stand to settle; put in two or three whites of eggs, then draw it off. If it be not sweet enough, add more sugar, and a quart of the best Malmsey. To make it still better, boil a ¼ lb. of stoned raisins and ½ an oz. of cinnamon bark in a quart of the liquor, to the consumption of a third part, and straining it, put it into the cask when the wine is fermenting.
200. Another Method.
Take 20 large quinces, gathered when they are dry and full ripe, wipe them clean with a coarse cloth, and grate them with a large grater or rasp as near the cores as possible; but do not touch the cores. Boil a gallon of spring water, throw in the quinces, and let them boil softly about a quarter of an hour. Then strain them well into an earthen pan, on 2 lbs. of double refined sugar. Pare the peel off two large lemons, throw them in, and squeeze the juice through a sieve. Stir it about till it be very cool, and then toast a thin bit of bread very brown, rub a little yeast on it, and let the whole stand close covered twenty-four hours. Then take out the toast and lemon, put the wine in a cask, keep it three months, and then bottle it. If a twenty gallon cask is wanted, let it stand six months, before bottling it; and remember, when straining the quinces, to wring them hard in a coarse cloth.
201. ORANGE WINE.
Put 12 lbs. of powdered sugar, with the whites of 8 or 10 eggs well beaten into 6 gallons of spring water; boil them ¾ of an hour; when cold, put into it two spoonsful of yeast and the juice of 12 lemons, which being pared must stand with 2 lbs. of white sugar in a tankard, and in the morning skim off the top, and then put it into the water; add the juice and rinds of fifty oranges, but not the white or pithy part of the rinds; let it work all together two days and two nights; then add two quarts of Rhenish or white wine, and put it into the vessel.
202. Another.
To 6 gallons of water put 15 lbs. of soft sugar; before it boils, add the whites of six eggs well beaten, and take off the scum as it rises; boil it ½ an hour: when cool, add the juice of fifty oranges, and two-thirds of the peels cut very thin; and immerse a toast covered with yeast. In a month after it has been in the cask, add a pint of brandy and 2 quarts of Rhenish wine: it will be fit to bottle in three or four months, but it should remain in bottle for twelve months before it is drank.
203. ORANGE AND LEMON WINE.
Orange wine of a superior quality may be made with 2 lbs. of clayed sugar, and 1 lb. of Malaga raisins to each gallon of water, to which add the juice and peel of an orange, and to every 100 gallons of fluid, 4 lbs. of Rhenish tartar.
Two lbs. of honey, and 1 lb. of Malaga raisins, with the juice and peel of a large orange, to every gallon of water, and 4 lbs. of Rhenish tartar to every 100 gallons of fluid, will make an orange wine still superior to the former. Steep and press the fruit, and expend the tartar in setting, raising, and cutting the backs: the orange peel and juice are not to be added until the last stage of fermentation, that is on cutting: they will possess infinitely more vinosity than the ordinary orange wines, indeed, nearly as much as the juice of the vine.
Lemon wine, equally delicious, may be made in a similar manner: both these wines, as they advance in age, lose much of the grosser part of the orange and lemon flavour; one approaches the bergamot, and the other a fine citron, and become fragrant as they advance in years: they will be more improved if treacle be used, divested of its colour and burnt flavour.
204. PARSNIP WINE.
To 12 lbs. of parsnips, cut in slices, add 4 gallons of water; boil them till they become quite soft. Squeeze the liquor well out of them, run it through a sieve, and add to every gallon 3 pounds of loaf sugar. Boil the whole three quarters of an hour, and when it is nearly cold, add a little yeast. Let it stand for ten days in a tub, stirring it every day from the bottom, then put it into a cask for twelve months: as it works over, fill it up every day.
205. WHITE MEAD WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 17 gallons,
white currants, 6 quarts.
Ferment.
Mix honey, 30 pounds,
white tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
Add balm and sweetbriar, each 2 handsful,
white brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
206. RED MEAD, OR METHEGLIN WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 17 gallons,
red currants, 6 quarts,
black currants, 2 quarts.
Ferment.
Mix honey, 25 pounds,
beet-root, sliced, 1 pound,
red tartar, in fine powder, 4 oz.
Add cinnamon in powder, 2 oz.
brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
207. Another.
Fermented mead is made in the proportion of 1 pound of honey to 3 pints of water; or by boiling over a moderate fire, to two-thirds of the quantity, three parts water and one part honey. The liquor is then skimmed and casked, care being taken to keep the cask full while fermenting. During the fermenting process, the cask is left unstopped and exposed to the sun, or in a warm room, until the working cease. The cask is then bunged, and a few months in the cellar renders it fit for use. Mead is rendered more vinous and pleasant by the addition of cut raisins, or other fruits, boiled after the rate of half a pound of raisins to six pounds of honey, with a toasted crust of bread, an ounce of salt of tartar in a glass of brandy, being added to the liquor when casked; to which some add five or six drops of the essence of cinnamon; others, pieces of lemon peel with various syrups.
208. WALNUT MEAD WINE.
To every gallon of water, put three pounds and a half of honey, and boil them together three quarters of an hour. Then to every gallon of liquor put about two dozen of walnut leaves, pour the boiling liquor upon them, and let them stand all night. Then take out the leaves, put in a spoonful of yeast, and let it work for two or three days.
Then make it up, and after it has stood for three months, bottle it.
209. HONEY WINE.
Put a quantity of the comb, from which honey has been drained in a tub, and add a barrel of cider, immediately from the press; this mixture stir, and leave for one night. It is then strained before fermentation; and honey added, until the specific gravity of the liquor is sufficient to bear an egg. It is then put into a barrel; and after the fermentation is commenced, the cask is filled every day, for three or four days, that the froth may work out of the bung-hole. When the fermentation moderates, put the bung in loosely, lest stopping it tight might cause the cask to burst. At the end of five or six weeks, the liquor is to be drawn off into a tub, and the whites of eight eggs, well beaten up, with a pint of clean sand, is to be put into it: then add a gallon of cider spirit; and after mixing the whole together, return it into the cask, which is to be well cleaned, bunged tight, and placed in a proper situation for racking off, when fine. In the month of April following, draw it off into kegs, for use; and it will be equal to almost any foreign wine.
210. COWSLIP RED WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 18 gallons,
Smyrna raisins, 40 lbs.
Ferment.
Mix beet-root, sliced, 3 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Add cowslip-flowers, 14 lbs.
cloves and mace, in powder, 1 oz.
brandy, one gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
211. COWSLIP WHITE WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 18 gallons,
Malaga raisins, 35 lbs.
white tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Ferment.
Mix cowslip-flowers, 16 lbs.
Add white brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
212. COWSLIP MEAD.
Is made in this manner: to 15 gallons of water put 30 pounds of honey, and boil it till one gallon be wasted. Skim it, take it off the fire, and have ready 16 lemons cut in halves. Take a gallon of the liquor, and put it to the lemons. Put the rest of the liquor into a tub with seven pecks of cowslips, and let them stand all night. Then put in the liquor with the lemons, 8 spoonsful of new yeast, and a handful of sweetbriar. Stir them all well together, and let it work three or four days; then strain it, put it into the cask, and after it has stood six months, bottle it off.
213. CIDER WHITE WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 2 quarts,
cider, 9 gallons,
honey, 8 pounds,
white tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Ferment.
Mix cinnamon, cloves, and mace, 2 oz.
Add rum, half a gallon.
This will make 9 gallons.
214. CIDER RED WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 3 gallons,
cider, 16 gallons,
honey, 10 pounds.
Ferment.
Add raw sugar, 4 pounds,
beet-root, sliced, 4 pounds,
red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz.
Mix sweet marjorum and sweetbriar, 3 handsful,
rum, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
215. CIDER WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 4 gallons,
cider, 15 gallons,
honey, 12 pounds,
tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.
Ferment.
Mix ginger, in powder, 6 oz.
sage and mint, 2 handsful.
Add British spirits, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
216. GRAPE RED WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 5 gallons,
black, or red grapes, 40 pounds.
Ferment.
Mix cider, 9 gallons,
raw sugar, 20 pounds,
barberry leaves, 3 handsful,
beet-root, sliced, 2 pounds,
red tartar, in powder, 4 ounces.
Add white elder-flowers, 6 handsful, or sassafras chips, 4 pounds.
Brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
217. Another.
Take of cold soft water, 6 gallons,
grapes, of any colour, 30 pounds.
Ferment.
Mix treacle, 10 pounds,
beet-root, sliced, 1½ pounds,
red tartar, in powder, 2 ounces.
Add rosemary leaves, 2 handsful,
brandy, ½ a gallon.
This will make 9 gallons.
218. Another.
Take of cold soft water, 8 gallons,
grapes, of any sort, 100 pounds.
Ferment.
Mix raw sugar, 20 pounds,
beet-root, sliced, 4 pounds,
barberry-leaves, 4 handsful,
red tartar, in powder, 6 ounces.
Add coriander seed, bruised, 2 ounces,
brandy, 6 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
219. GRAPE WHITE WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 13 gallons,
white grapes, 50 pounds.
Ferment.
Mix refined sugar, 25 pounds,
white tartar, in powder, 3 ounces.
Add clary seed, bruised, 3 ounces, or
clary flowers, 6 handsful,
Rum, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
220. Another Grape Wine.
To every gallon of ripe grapes put a gallon of soft water, bruise the grapes, let them stand a week without stirring, and draw the liquor off fine; to every gallon of wine put three pounds of lump sugar; put the whole into a vessel, but do not stop it till it has done hissing, then stop it close, and in six months it will be fit for bottling.
A better wine, though smaller in quantity, will be made by leaving out the water, and diminishing the quantity of sugar. Water is necessary, only where the juice is so scanty, or so thick, as in cowslip, balm, or black currant wine, that it could not be used without it.
221. RAISIN WINE, EQUAL TO SHERRY.
Let the raisins be well washed and picked from the stalks; to every pound thus prepared and chopped, add one quart of water, which has been boiled and has stood till it is cold. Let the whole stand in the vessel for a month, being frequently stirred. Now let the raisins be taken from the cask and let the liquor be closely stopped in the vessel.
In the course of a month let it be racked into another vessel, leaving all the sediment behind, which must be repeated till it becomes fine, when add to every ten gallons, six pounds of fine sugar, and one dozen of Seville oranges, the rinds being pared very thin, and infused in two quarts of brandy, which should be added to the liquor at its last racking. Let the whole stand three months in the cask, when it will be fit for bottling; it should remain in the bottle for a twelvemonth.
To give it the flavour of Madeira, when it is in the cask, put in a couple of green citrons, and let them remain till the wine is bottled.
222. Another Raisin Wine.
Put two hundred weight of raisins, with the stalks, into a hogshead, and fill it almost with spring water; let them steep for about twelve days, frequently stirring, and after pouring off the juice, dress the raisins and mash them. The whole should then be put together into a very clean vessel that will exactly contain it. It will hiss for some time, during which it should not be stirred; but when the noise ceases, it must be stopped close, and stand for about six or seven months: and then, if it proves fine and clear, rack it off into another vessel of the same size. Stop it up, and let it remain for twelve or fourteen weeks longer, then bottle it off. If it should not prove clear, fine it down with three ounces of isinglass, and a quarter of a pound of sugar-candy, dissolved in some of the wine.
223. GINGER WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 19 gallons,
Malaga raisins, 50 lbs.
white tartar, in powder, 4 oz.
Ferment.
Mix ginger, in powder, or bruised, 20 oz.
18 lemons, peel and juice.
Add brandy, 2 quarts, or more.
This will make 18 gallons.
224. Another.
Take 20 quarts of water,
5 lbs. of sugar,
3 oz. of white ginger,
1 oz. of stick liquorice.
Boil them well together; when it is cold put a little new yeast upon it, but not too much; then put it into the barrel for ten days, and after that bottle it, putting a lump of white sugar into every bottle.
225. Another.
To seven gallons of water put nineteen pounds of clayed sugar, and boil it for half an hour, taking off the scum as it rises; then take a small quantity of the liquor, and add to it nine ounces of the best ginger bruised. Now put it all together, and when nearly cold, chop nine pounds of raisins, very small, and put them into a nine gallon cask (beer measure,) with one ounce of isinglass. Slice four lemons into the cask, taking out all the seeds, and pour the liquor over them, with half a pint of fresh yeast. Leave it unstopped for three weeks, and in three months it will be fit for bottling.
There will be one gallon of the sugar and water more than the cask will hold at first: this must be kept to fill up, as the liquor works off, as it is necessary that the cask should be kept full, till it has done working. The raisins should be two-thirds Malaga, and one third Muscadel. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for making this wine.
226. RHUBARB WINE.
Take of sliced rhubarb, 2½ oz.
lesser cardamom seeds, bruised and husked, ½ oz.
saffron, 2 drachms,
Spanish white wine, 2 pints,
proof spirit, ½ pint.
Digest for ten days, and strain.
This is a warm, cordial, laxative medicine. If is used chiefly in weakness of the stomach and bowels, and some kind of loosenesses, for evacuating the offending matter, and strengthening the tone of the viscera. It may be given in doses of from half a spoonful to three or four spoonsful or more, according to the circumstances of the disorder, and the strength of the patient.
227. SAGE WINE.
Boil twenty-six quarts of spring water a quarter of an hour, and when it is blood warm, put twenty-five pounds of Malaga raisins, picked, rubbed, and shred, into it, with almost half a bushel of red sage shred, and a porringer of ale yeast, stir it all well together, and let it stand in a tub, covered warm, six or seven days, stirring it once a day: then strain it off, and put it in a runlet. Let it work three or four days, and then stop it up; when it has stood six or seven days, put in a quart or two of Malaga sack; and when it is fine, bottle it.
228. GILLIFLOWER WINE.
To three gallons of water put six pounds of the best powder sugar, boil the sugar and water together for the space of half an hour, keep skimming it as the scum rises; let it stand to cool, beat up three ounces of syrup of betony with a large spoonful of ale yeast, put it into the liquor, and brew it well together; then having a peck of gilliflowers, cut from the stalks, put them into the liquor, let them infuse and work together three days, covered with a cloth; strain it, and put it into a cask, and let it settle for three weeks; then bottle it.
229. TURNIP WINE.
Pare and slice a number of turnips, put them into a cider press, and press out all the juice. To every gallon of the juice, add three pounds of lump sugar; have a vessel ready large enough to hold the juice, and put half a pint of brandy to every gallon. Pour in the juice and lay something over the bung for a week, to see if it works; if it does, do not bung it down till it has done working; then stop it close for three months, and draw it off into another vessel, when it is fine bottle it off.
This is an excellent wine for gouty habits, and is much recommended in such cases in lieu of any other wine.
230. ROSE WINE.
Take a well-glazed earthen vessel, and put into it three gallons of rose-water drawn with a cold still. Put into that a sufficient quantity of rose leaves, cover it close, and set it for an hour in a kettle or copper of hot water, to take out the whole strength and tincture of the roses; and when it is cold, press the rose leaves hard into the liquor, and steep fresh ones in it, repeating it till the liquor has got the full strength of the roses. To every gallon of liquor put three pounds of loaf sugar, and stir it well, that it may melt and disperse in every part. Then put it into a cask, or other convenient vessel, to ferment, and put into it a piece of bread toasted hard, and covered with yeast. Let it stand about thirty days, when it will be ripe, and have a fine flavour, having the whole strength and scent of the roses in it; and it may be greatly improved by adding to it wine and spices. By this method of infusion, wine of carnations, clove, gilliflowers, violets, primroses, or any other flower having a curious scent, may be made.
231. BARLEY WINE.
Boil half a pound of fresh barley in three waters, and save three pints of the last water. Mix it with a quart of white wine, half a pint of borage water, as much of clary water, a little red rose-water, the juice of five or six lemons, three quarters of a pound of fine sugar, and the thin yellow rind of a lemon. Mix all these well together, run it through a strainer, and bottle it. It is pleasant in hot weather, and very good in fevers.
232. ENGLISH FIG-WINE.
Take the large blue figs, when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs, and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced to a kind of pulp. Then strain out the water, pressing the pulp hard, and pour it as hot as possible on the figs that are imbrewed in the wine. Let the quantities be nearly equal, but the water somewhat more than the wine and figs. Let them stand twenty-four hours, mash them well together, and draw off what will run without squeezing. Then press the rest, and if not sweet enough, add a sufficient quantity of sugar, to make it so. Let it ferment, and add to it a little honey and sugar-candy; then fine it with whites of eggs, and a little isinglass, and draw it off for use.
233. SYCAMORE WINE.
Boil two gallons of the sap half an hour, and then add to it four pounds of fine powdered sugar. Beat the whites of three eggs to froth, and mix them with the liquor; but take care that it is not too hot, as that will poach the eggs. Skim it well, and boil it half an hour. Then strain it through a hair sieve, and let it stand till next day. Then pour it clean from the sediment, put half a pint of yeast to every twelve gallons, and cover it close up with blankets. Then put it into the barrel, and leave the bung-hole open till it has done working. Then close it up well, and when it has stood two months, bottle it. The fifth part of the sugar must be loaf; and if raisins are liked, they will be a great addition to the wine.
234. BALM WINE.
Take forty pounds of sugar and nine gallons of water; boil it gently for two hours, skim it well, and put it into a tub to cool. Take two pounds and a half of the tops of balm, bruise them, and put them into a barrel, with a little new yeast; and when the liquor is cold, pour it on the balm. Stir it well together and let it stand twenty-four hours, stirring it often. Then close it up, and let it stand six weeks. Then rack it off and put a lump of sugar into every bottle. Cork it well, and it will be better the second year than the first.
235. SCURVY-GRASS WINE.
Scurvy-grass, or spoonwort, is a very sovereign medicinal herb, appropriated chiefly to the health of invalids.
Take the best large scurvy-grass tops and leaves, in May, June, or July, bruise them well in a stone mortar, then put them in a well-glazed earthen vessel, and sprinkle them over with some powder of crystal of tartar, then smear them with virgin honey, and being covered close, let it stand twenty-four hours; then set water over a gentle fire, putting to every gallon three pints of honey, and when the scum rises, take it off, and let it cool; then put the stamped scurvy grass into a barrel, and pour the liquor to it, setting the vessel conveniently end-ways, with a tap at the bottom. When it has been infused twenty-four hours, draw off the liquor, strongly press the juice and moisture out of the herb into the barrel or vessel, and put the liquor up again; then put a little new yeast to it, and suffer it to ferment three days, covering the place of the bung or vent with a piece of bread spread over with mustard seed, downward, in a cool place, and let it continue till it is fine and drinks brisk; then draw off the finest part, leaving only the dregs behind: afterwards add more herbs, and ferment it with whites of eggs, flour, and fixed nitre, verjuice, or the juice of green grapes, if they are to be had; to which add six pounds of the syrup of mustard, all mixed and well beaten together, to refine it down, and it will drink brisk, but is not very pleasant; being here inserted among artificial wines rather for the sake of health than for the delightfulness of its taste.
236. CHEAP AND WHOLESOME CLARET.
Take a quart of fine draft Devonshire cider, and an equal quantity of good port. Mix them, and shake them. Bottle them, and let them stand for a month. The best judge will not be able to distinguish them from good Bordeaux.
237. DRY WINE.
Those who like a dry wine, should put into the vat, at the commencement of the vinous fermentation, an ounce or two of calcined gypsum, in fine powder.
MANAGEMENT OF BRITISH WINES.
238. To guard against unripe Fruit.
If the season proves bad, so that some fruits are not sufficiently ripe, immediately after the vinous fermentation, and the must of such fruit is put into the cask, it is to be rolled two or three times a day, for a week or two. A spirituous fermentation will soon commence, the bung of the cask must then be taken out, and the hole covered with a bit of light wood or canvas, and as any scum arises, it should be taken away. When the scum disappears, fill up the cask, and bung it up. But a vent-hole must be left open for a week.
239. To keep and manage Wines.
Wines will diminish, therefore the cask must be kept filled up with some of the same wine, or some other that is as good or better.
They must at all times be kept in a cool cellar, if not, they will ferment. If wines are kept in a warm cellar, an acetous fermentation will soon commence, and the result consequently will be vinegar. The more a wine frets and ferments, the more it parts with its strength and goodness: when wines are found to work improperly in the cellar, the vent-peg must be taken out for a week or two.
If any wine ferments, after being perfected, draw off a quart and boil it, and pour it hot into the cask, add a pint or a quart of brandy, and bung up a day or two after.
Or, draw off the wine, and fumigate the cask, with one ounce of flour of brimstone, and half an ounce of cinnamon, in powder. Mix the two together, and tie them up in a rag. Turn the bung-hole of the cask downwards, place the rag under the bung-hole, and set fire to it, so that the gas ascends into the cask. As soon as it is burnt out, fill up the cask with wine, and bung it up tight.
240. To sweeten a foul Cask.
Set fire to a pound or more of broken charcoal, put it into the cask and immediately fill up the cask with boiling water. After this, roll the cask once or twice a day for a week; then pour out the charcoal and water, wash out the cask with clean cold water, and expose it to the external air for some days.
241. To improve Poor Wines.
Poor wines may be improved by being racked off, and returned into the cask again; and then putting into the wine about a pound of jar or box raisins, bruised, and a quart of brandy.
Or, put to the wine two pounds of honey, and a pint or two of brandy. The honey and brandy to be first mixed together.
Or, draw off three or four quarts of such wine, and fill the cask up with strong wine.
242. To improve Wine when lowering or decaying.
Take one ounce of roche-alum, make it into powder; then draw out four gallons of wine, mix the powder with it, and beat it well for half an hour; then fill up the cask, and when fine (which will be in a week’s time or little more) bottle it off. This will make it drink fine and brisk.
243. To restore Flat Wines.
Flat wines may be restored by one pound of jar raisins, one pound of honey, and half a pint of spirit of wine, beaten up in a mortar with some of the wine, and then put into the cask.
244. To remove a musty or disagreeable taste in Wines.
Put into the cask three or four sticks of charcoal, and bung up the cask tight. In a month after take them out.—Or, cut two ripe medlars, put them in a gauze bag, and suspend them from the bung-hole into the wine, and bung up the cask air-tight. A month after take them out, and bung up the cask again.—Or, mix half a pound of bruised mustard-seed, with a pint or more of brandy, and stir it up in the wine; and two days after bung up the cask.
245. Another Method.
At the finish of the process, when the brandy or spirit is put to the wine, it is particularly recommended that a quarter of an ounce of crystal camphor, in the lump, be dropped into the bung-hole of each eighteen gallons of wine.
246. Another Method.
Oil poured upon wine, or any other liquor, will prevent it from growing musty, or becoming corrupt.
247. To take away the ill scent of Wines.
Bake a long roller of dough, stuck well with cloves, and hang it in the cask.
248. To pass White Wine off for Champaign.
Rack it often from the lees; and when very brilliant, bottle it off:—this must be done between vintage time and the month of May.
It has (says Mr. Carnell) been a most absurd practice with many families to use green gooseberries, in order to imitate Champaign wine; but green fruit is by no means fit or proper for the making of any wine. Nor, indeed, is it at all necessary in the making an imitation of Champaign.
249. To make Wine sparkle like Champaign.
Take great care to rack off the wine well, and in March bottle it as quick as possible. The bottles must be very clean and dry, and the corks of the best sort, made of velvet or white cork. In two months after the wine will be in fine condition to drink.
250. To clear foul or ropy Wines.
Take 1 ounce of chalk, in powder,
½ an ounce of burnt alum,
the white of an egg, and
one pint of spring water.
Beat the whole up in a mortar, and pour it into the wine; after which, roll the cask ten minutes; and then place it on the stand, leaving the bung out for a few days. As soon as the wine is fine, rack it off.
Or, take 1 oz. of ground rice,
½ oz. of burnt alum, and
½ oz. of bay-salt.
Beat the whole up in a mortar, with a pint or more of the wine, pour it into the cask, and roll it ten minutes. The cask must not be bunged up for a few days. As soon as such wine becomes fine, rack it off.
Or, bring the cask of wine out of the cellar, and place it in a shady situation to receive the circulation of the air; and take out the bung. In three weeks or a month, rack it off into a sweet cask, which fill up, and put into the wine an ounce of cinnamon, in the stick; and bung it up tight.
251. Another Method.
Tap the cask, and put a piece of coarse cloth upon that end of the cock which goes to the inside of the cask; then rack it into a dry cask to thirty gallons of wine, and put in five ounces of powdered alum. Roll and shake them well together, and it will fine down, and prove a very clear and pleasant wine.
252. To correct green or harsh Wines.
Take 1 oz. of salt,
½ an oz. of calcined gypsum, in powder, and
1 pint of skimmed milk.
Mix those up with a little of the wine, and then pour the mixture into the cask; put in a few lavender leaves, stir the wine with a stick, so as not to disturb the lees, and bung it up.
253. To correct sharp, tart, acid Wines.
Mix one ounce of calcined gypsum, in powder, and two pounds of honey, in one quart of brandy; pour the mixture into the wine, and stir it so as not to disturb the lees; fill up the cask, and the following day bung it up:—rack this wine as soon as fine.
Or, mix half an ounce of the salt of tartar, half an ounce of calcined gypsum, in powder, with a pint of the wine; pour it into the cask, and put an ounce of cinnamon in the stick; stir the wine without disturbing the lees, fill up the cask, and the day following bung it up.
Or, boil 3 ounces of rice; when cold put it into a gauze-bag, and immerge it into the wine; put into the wine also a few sticks of cinnamon, and bung up the cask. In about a month after, take the rice out.
254. To restore sour Wines.
Take calcined gypsum, in powder, 1 oz.
cream of tartar, in powder, 2 oz.
Mix them in a pint or more of brandy; pour it into the cask; put in, also, a few sticks of cinnamon, and then stir the wine without disturbing the lees. Bung up the cask the next day.
255. Another Method.
Boil a gallon of wine, with some beaten oyster-shells and crabs’ claws burnt into powder, an ounce of each to every ten gallons of wine; then strain out the liquor through a sieve, and when cold, put it into wine of the same sort, and it will give it a pleasant lively taste. A lump of unslacked lime put into the cask will also keep wine from turning sour.
256. To fine or clarify Wines.
Boil a pint of skimmed milk; when cold mix with it an ounce of chalk, in fine powder, pour it into the cask, and roll it ten minutes. The following day bung up the wine, and rack it off as soon as fine.
257. Another Method.
Or, take 1½ oz. of gum-arabic, in fine powder, and
1 oz. of chalk, in powder.
Mix those up with a pint more of wine, pour the mixture into the cask, roll it ten minutes, and then fill it up. Bung it up the next day, and rack off the wine as soon as fine.
Or, take the yolk and white of an egg,
½ oz. of chalk, in powder, and
½ oz. of burnt alum, in powder.
Beat those up in a mortar with a pint of spring water, and pour the mixture into the wine, roll the cask; then fill it up, and bung it up the next day.—Rack off the wine as soon as fine.
258. To sweeten Wines.
In 30 gallons of wine infuse a handful of the flowers of clary; then add a pound of mustard seed, dry ground, put it into a bag, and sink it to the bottom of the cask.
259. To stop the Fermentation of Wine.
It is in the first place necessary to consider whether the existing state of fermentation be the original or secondary stage of that process which comes on after the former has ceased for several days, and is indeed the commencement of acetous fermentation. That of the former kind rarely proceeds beyond what is necessary for the perfect decomposition of the saccharine and other parts of the vegetable substances necessary for the production of spirit, unless the liquor be kept too warm, or is too weak, and left exposed to the air after the vinous fermentation is completed. The means to correct these circumstances are sufficiently obvious. The heat for spirituous fermentation should not be above 60 degrees Fahrenheit; when it is much above that point, the liquor passes rapidly through the stage of vinous fermentation, and the acetous immediately commences. When too long-continued fermentation arises from the liquor having been kept in a warm situation, it will be soon checked by bunging, after being removed into a cold place; the addition of a small proportion of spirits of wine or brandy, previously to closing it up, is also proper. A degree of cold, approaching to the freezing point, will check fermentation of whatever kind. Fermentation of this kind cannot be stopped by any chemical agent, except such as would destroy the qualities of the liquor intended to be produced.
The secondary stage of fermentation, or the commencement of the acetous, may be stopped by removing the liquor to a cool situation; correcting the acid already formed; and if the liquor contain but little spirit, the addition of a proper proportion of brandy is requisite.
The operation of racking is also necessary to preserve liquor in a vinous state, and to render it clear. This process should be performed in a cool place.
260. To restore pricked British Wines.
Rack the wines down to the lees into another cask, where the lees of good wines are fresh, then put a pint of strong aqua vitæ, and scrape half a pound of yellow bees-wax into it, which by heating the spirit over a gentle fire, will melt: after which dip a piece of cloth into it, and when a little dry, set on fire with a brimstone match, put it into the bung-hole, and stop it up close.
261. Another Method.
First prepare a fresh empty cask, that has had the same kind of wine in it which is about to be racked, then match it, and rack off the wine, putting to every ten gallons two ounces of oyster powder, and half an ounce of bay-salt, then get the staff and stir it well about, letting it stand till it is fine, which will be in a few days; after which rack it off into another cask, (previously matched) and if the lees of some wine of the same kind can be got, it will improve it much.—Put likewise a quart of brandy to every ten gallons, and if the cask has been emptied a long time, it will match better on that account; but if even a new cask, the matching must not be omitted. A fresh empty cask is to be preferred.
N. B. This method will answer for all made wines.
262. A NEW METHOD OF MAKING CURRANT WINE.
Boiling the fruit is a practice of decided advantage. From this treatment many tasteless fruits acquire a flavour, as is well known, and many bad flavours are converted into agreeable ones. In no case perhaps is this more remarkable than in the black currant, which, harsh and comparatively insipid in its natural state, acquires by boiling a powerful, and, to most persons, a highly agreeable flavour. In making wine from this variety of currant, the effects of this process are very remarkable; the produce of the raw fruit being scarcely distinguished by any particular property from the herd of made wines, while that of the boiled fruit may with careful management be brought to resemble some of the best of the sweet Cape wines. In the white and red currant the same precaution has been attended with results equally successful, though not marked by a contrast so decided. If sweet wine is intended, the quantity of fruit for 10 gallons should not exceed 40 pounds; if dry wine is desired, it may extend to 60. The proportion of sugar will be 30 pounds as before. If a much stronger wine of either quality is desired, it must extend to 40 pounds. Unsound or bruised fruit should be rejected; and the remains of the blossom and fruit stalk carefully removed.
PERFUMERY AND COSMETICS.
263. A NATURAL DENTIFRICE.
The common strawberry is a natural dentifrice, and its juice, without any preparation, dissolves the tartareous incrustations on the teeth, and makes the breath sweet and agreeable.
264. TO MAKE EAU DE MELISSE DES CARMES.
Take of spirit of balm, 8 pints,
lemon peel, 4 do.
nutmegs, and
coriander seeds, each, 2 do.
rosemary, marjoram,
thyme, hissop,
cinnamon, sage,
aniseed, cloves,
angelica roots, each 1 pint.
Mix. Distil and keep it for a year in an ice-house.
This is the original receipt of the barefooted Carmelites, now in possession of the company of apothecaries of Paris, who sell a vast quantity of this celebrated water.
265. EAU DE COLOGNE.
Take of essence de bergamotte, 3 oz.
Neroli, 1½ drachms.
cedrat, 2 do.
lemon, 3 do.
oil of rosemary, 1 do.
spirit of wine, 12 lbs.
——— rosemary, 3¼ do.
eau de melissee de Carmes, 2¼ do.
Mix. Distil in balneum mariæ, and keep it in a cold cellar or ice-house for some time. It is used as a cosmetic, and made, with sugar, into a ratafia.
266. EAU DE BOUQUET.
Take of sweet-scented honey water, 1 oz.
eau sans pareille, 1½ do.
essence de jasmin, 5 drachms,
syrup of cloves, and
spirit of violets, each, 4 drachms,
calamus aromaticus,
long-rooted cyperus,
lavender, each, 2 do.
essence of neroli, 1 scruple.
Mix. Some add a few grains of musk and ambergris: it is sweet scented, and may be made into a ratafia with sugar.
267. ESSENCE DE JASMIN.
The flowers are stratified with wool or cotton, impregnated with oil of behn, or nut oil, in an earthen vessel, closely covered, and kept for some time in a warm bath; this is repeated with fresh flowers, until the oil is well scented: the wool, &c. is then put into a sufficient quantity of spirit of wine, and distilled in balneum mariæ.
268. THE BEST HONEY WATER.
Take of coriander seeds, a pound, cassia, four oz. cloves and gum benzoin, each, 2 oz. oil of rhodium, essence of lemon, essence of bergamot, and oil of lavender, each, 1 drachm, rectified spirit of wine, 20 pints, rose water, 2 quarts, nutmeg water, 1 quart, musk and ambergris, each, twelve grains. Distil in a water bath to dryness.
269. Another Method.
Put 2 drachms each, of tincture of ambergris, and tincture of musk, in a quart of rectified spirit of wine, and half a pint of water; filter and put it up in small bottles.
270. OTTAR OF ROSES.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh received from Dr. Monro the following account of the manner in which this costly perfume is prepared in the east. Steep a large quantity of the petals of the rose, freed from every extraneous matter, in pure water, in an earthen or wooden vessel, which is exposed daily to the sun, and housed at night, till a scum rises to the surface. This is the ottar, which carefully absorb by a very small piece of cotton tied to the end of a stick. The oil collected, squeeze out of the cotton into a very diminutive vial, stop it for use. The collection of it should be continued, whilst any scum is produced.
271. ENGLISH MILK OF ROSES.
Take 2 lbs. of Jordan almonds,
5 quarts of rose water,
1 do. of rectified spirit of wine,
½ an oz. of oil of lavender,
2 oz. of Spanish oil-soap, and
4 oz. of cream of roses.
Blanch the almonds in boiling water, dry them well in a cloth, then pound them in a mortar until they become a paste. Pound in the soap and mix it well with the almond paste. Then add the cream of roses. When these are mixed, add the rose-water and spirits, which stir in with a spatula or knife. Strain the whole through a clean white cloth, then add the oil of lavender to the expressed liquid, drop by drop, and stir the whole well. When the mixture has stood for a day, cover it over with a cloth from the dust, then bottle it for use.
272. FRENCH MILK OF ROSES.
Mix together 4 oz. of oil of almonds,
½ an oz. of English oil of lavender,
2 quarts of spirit of wine, and
10 do. of rose-water.
Next, blanch 3 lbs. of Jordan almonds, and pound them in a mortar, with a quarter of a lb. of Spanish oil-soap, half an oz. of spermaceti, and half an oz. of white wax. Put these ingredients into a large jar, with two ounces of pearl-ash, dissolved in an ounce of warm water. Shake the whole well, and then pour it into small bottles for sale.
273. CREAM OF ROSES.
Take 1 lb. of oil of sweet almonds,
1 oz. of spermaceti,
1 oz. of white wax,
1 pint of rose-water, and
2 drachms of Malta rose, or nerolet essence.
Put the oil, spermaceti, and wax, into a well-glazed pipkin, over a clear fire, and, when melted, pour in the rose-water by degrees, and keep beating, till the compound becomes like pomatum. Now add the essence, and then put the cream into small pots or jars, which must be well covered up with pieces of bladder, and soft skin leather.
274. COLD CREAM POMATUM, FOR THE COMPLEXION.
Take an ounce of oil of sweet almonds, and half a drachm each, of white wax and spermaceti, with a little balm. Melt these ingredients in a glazed pipkin over hot ashes, and pour the solution into a marble mortar; stir it with the pestle until it becomes smooth and cold, then add gradually an ounce of rose or orange-flower water; stir all the mixture till incorporated to resemble cream. This pomatum renders the skin at once supple and smooth. To prevent marks from the small pox, add a little powder of saffron. The gallipot in which it is kept, should have a piece of bladder tied over it.
275. Another Method.
Take 4 ounces of clear trotter oil, one ounce of oil of jesamine, 2 ounces of spermaceti, and one ounce of white wax, scraped fine. Melt them together very gently, then pour it into a pan, which must be kept by the fire. Now beat it without intermission, till it becomes one consistent very white body: then put to it 3 ounces of rose or orange-flower water, with about a drachm of spirit of ambergris, or other sweet essence.
Beat the mixture well again, until the water and spirit be properly absorbed. This beating will add greatly to the whiteness as well as the flavour, of the cream, which will now be as white as snow; particularly if care is taken that the utensils and ingredients are quite clean.
In winter, all the utensils, &c. must be kept warm, and the process performed in a warm room. Even the rose water must be warmed, previous to mixture, otherwise the cream will congeal into knobs, so as to cause the whole to be melted again.
In summer every thing must be kept cool after the melting and mixing. More wax must likewise be used in summer than in winter.
When put into pots, the cold cream is to be kept very cool: each having honey water poured on the top, in order to improve the flavour.
276. POMADE DIVINE.
Put a pound and a half of clear beef marrow into an earthen pan of fresh water, and change the same for ten days, then steep it in rose water for 24 hours, and drain it in a cloth till dry. Take an ounce of storax, gum benjamin, odoriferous Cypress powder, or of Florence, half an ounce of cinnamon, two drachms of cloves, and two drachms of nutmeg, all finely powdered; mix them with the marrow, then put the ingredients into a three-pint pewter pot, make a paste of the white of egg and flour, and lay it upon a piece of rag, over that, put another piece of linen to cover the top close. Put the pot into a large copper pot with water, and keep it steady that it may not reach to the covering of the pot that holds the marrow. As the water shrinks, add more, for it must boil four hours without ceasing; strain the ointment through a linen cloth into small pots, and when cold cover them up close with bladder and paper. Don’t touch it with anything but silver.
277. PEARL WATER, FOR THE FACE.
Put half a pound of best Spanish oil soap, scraped very fine, into a gallon of boiling water. Stir it well for some time, and let it stand till cold. Add a quart of rectified spirit of wine, and half an ounce of oil of rosemary; stir them again.
This compound liquid, when put up in proper phials, in Italy, is called tincture of pearls. It is an excellent cosmetic for removing freckles from the face, and for improving the complexion.
278. ALMOND BLOOM.
Take of Brazil dust, 1 oz.
water, 3 pints,
isinglass, 6 drachms,
cochineal, 2 do.
alum, 1 oz.
borax, 3 drachms.
279. ALMOND PASTE.
Take of blanched sweet almonds, 1 lb.
———– bitter do. ½ lb.
sugar, 1 lb.
Beat up with orange flower water.
280. COMMON ALMOND PASTE.
To make this paste, take six pounds of fresh almonds, which blanch and beat in a stone mortar, with a sufficient quantity of rose-water. Now add a pound of finely drained honey, and mix the whole well together. This paste, which is exceedingly good for the hands, is to be put into small pots for sale.
If this paste gets dry, rub it up on a marble slab, with rose-water. To prevent this dryness, put about half a tea-spoonful of this water on the top of each pot, before tying up.
281. ORANGE POMATUM.
Take 5 pounds of hog’s-lard,
1 pound of mutton suet,
3 ounces of Portugal water,
½ an ounce of essence of bergamot,
4 ounces of yellow wax, and
½ a pound of palm oil.
Mix.
282. SOFT POMATUM.
Take 25 pounds of hog’s-lard,
8 pounds of mutton suet,
6 ounces of oil of bergamot,
4 ounces of essence of lemons,
½ an ounce of oil of lavender, and
¼ of an ounce of oil of rosemary.
These ingredients are to be combined in the same manner as those for the hard pomatum. This pomatum is to be put up in pots, in the usual way.
283. COMMON POMATUM.
Take 4 pounds of fresh and white mutton suet skinned and shredded very fine; which melt in about two quarts of spring water; and whilst hot, put the whole into a well-glazed earthen pan, small at bottom, and wide at the top. Let it stand until the fat is quite cold, and all the impurities fall to the bottom, which carefully scrape off.
Now break the fat into small pieces, which put into a pan, with 2 gallons of spring water, for a whole day; stir and wash often. Next day change the water, and when poured off a second time, at the end of twenty-four hours, dry the fat by rubbing in a clean linen cloth.
Now put the suet with 1½ pound of fresh hog’s-lard, into a large pan, and melt the whole over a gentle fire. When properly combined, put the whole into an earthen pan, and beat it with a wooden spatula, until cold.
Whilst beating, add 6 drachms of essence of lemon, and 30 drops of oil of cloves, previously mixed together. Now continue beating, until the mixture be perfectly white, and afterwards put it up into small pots.
Leave the pots open until the pomatum is quite cold; when cover them by pieces of bladder, &c. In summer, use more suet, and mix in a cool place:—in winter use more hog’s-lard, and make the pomatum in a warm room.
284. HARD POMATUM.
Take 30 pounds of suet,
1½ pounds of white wax,
6 ounces of essence of bergamot,
4 ounces of lemon,
1 oz. of lavender,
4 drachms of oil of rosemary, and
2 drachms of essence of ambergris.
Shred and pick the suet clean, and melt in an earthen pan or pipkin. Then stir it well and strain; and when nearly cold, add the perfumes, stirring well as before; when properly mixed, pour it into tin moulds.
285. Another Method.
Take 6 ounces of common pomatum, and add to it 3 ounces of white virgin wax, scraped fine. Melt them in an earthen pan, immersed in a larger one, containing boiling water; both being placed over a clear and steady fire. When properly incorporated, keep stirring, until it is nearly cold; then put it into small pots, or make it up into small rolls. Perfume it according to taste.
286. ROSEMARY POMATUM.
Strip a large double handful of rosemary; boil it in a tin or copper vessel, with half a pound of common soft pomatum, till it comes to about 3 or 4 ounces; strain it off, and keep it in the usual way.
287. PEARL POWDER, FOR THE FACE.
There are several sorts: the finest is made from real pearls, and is the least hurtful to the skin. It gives the most beautiful appearance, but is too dear for common use; still the perfumer ought never to be without it, for the use of the curious and the rich.
288. BISMUTH PEARL POWDER.
The next best pearl powder is made as follows:—
Take 4 ounces of the best magistery of bismuth,
2 ounces of fine starch powder.
Mix them well together, and put them into a subsiding glass, wide at top and narrow at bottom; pour over them a pint and a half of proof spirit, and shake them well; let them remain a day or two. When the powder falls to the bottom, pour off the spirit, leaving it dry; then place the glass in the sun, to evaporate the moisture.
Next turn out the white mass, the dirty parts of which form the top, whilst the pure ingredients remain at the bottom. If there be any dirty particles, scrape them off, and again pulverize the remaining part of the cake, and pour more proof spirit over it. Proceed as before; and, if there be any moisture remaining, place the cone on a large piece of smooth chalk, to absorb its moisture.
Cover the whole with a bell-glass, to preserve it from dust, and set it in the sun to dry and whiten it. Next grind the mass with a muller on a marble stone, and keep the powder in a glass bottle, secured, by a ground stopper, from air.
289. ORANGE FLOWER PASTE, FOR THE HANDS.
Blanch 5 or 6 pounds of bitter almonds, by boiling in water, and then beat them very fine in a marble mortar, with 2 pounds of orange flowers. If the paste be too oily, add to it some bean flour, finely sifted, but let no water enter the composition.
This paste is made abroad, but comes here very damaged, the sea-air destroying its properties.
290. CORAL TOOTH POWDER.
Take 4 ounces of coral, reduced to an impalpable powder,
8 ounces of very light Armenian bole,
1 ounce of Portugal snuff,
1 ounce of Havannah snuff,
1 ounce of good burnt tobacco ashes, and
1 ounce of gum myrrh, well pulverized.
Mix them together, and sift them twice.
291. A GOOD TOOTH POWDER.
To make a good tooth-powder, leave out the coral, and in its place put in pieces of brown stone-ware, reduced to a very fine powder. This is the common way of making it.
292. AN ASTRINGENT FOR THE TEETH.
Take of fresh conserve of roses, 2 ounces, the juice of half a sour lemon, a little very rough claret, and 6 ounces of coral tooth-powder. Make them into a paste, which put into small pots; and, if it dry by standing, moisten with lemon juice and wine, as before.
293. TO CLEAN THE TEETH.
Take of good soft water, 1 quart,
juice of lemon, 2 ounces,
burnt alum, 6 grains,
common salt, 6 grains.
Mix.
Boil them a minute in a cup, then strain and bottle for use: rub the teeth with a small bit of sponge tied to a stick, once a week.
294. TO MAKE THE TEETH WHITE.
A mixture of honey with the purest charcoal will prove an admirable cleanser.
295. AN EXCELLENT OPIATE FOR THE TEETH.
Well boil and skim 1 pound of honey; add to it a quarter of a pound of bole ammoniac, 1 oz. of dragon’s blood, 1 of oil of sweet almonds, ½ an ounce of oil of cloves, 8 drops of essence of bergamot, a gill of honey water, all mixed well together, and put into pots for use.
296. VEGETABLE TOOTH-BRUSHES.
Take marine marsh-mallow roots, cut them into lengths of 5 or 6 inches, and of the thickness of a middling rattan cane. Dry them in the shade, but not so as to make them shrivel.
Next finely pulverize two ounces of good dragon’s blood, put it into a flat-bottomed glazed pan, with four ounces of highly rectified spirit, and half an ounce of fresh conserve of roses. Set it over a gentle charcoal fire, and stir it until the dragon’s blood is dissolved; then put in about thirty of the marsh-mallow sticks; stir them about, and carefully turn them, that all parts may absorb the dye alike. Continue this until the bottom of the pan be quite dry, and shake and stir it over the fire, until the sticks are perfectly dry and hard.
Both ends of each root or stick should, previous to immersion in the pan, be bruised gently by a hammer, for half an inch downwards, so as to open its fibres, and thereby form a brush.
They are generally used by dipping one of the ends in the powder or opiate, and then, by rubbing them against the teeth, which they cleanse and whiten admirably.
297. Other Vegetable Tooth Brushes.
There are several cheap sorts of these tooth-brushes which are made in the same manner, except that, as a basis, rattan cane, or even common deal, cut round, is used instead of the marsh-mallow roots.
298. ROSE LIP-SALVE.
Put 8 ounces of the best olive oil into a wide-mouthed bottle, add two ounces of the small parts of alkanet-root.
Stop up the bottle, and set it in the sun; shake it often, until it be of a beautiful crimson. Now strain the oil off very clear from the roots, and add to it, in a glazed pipkin, three ounces of very fine white wax, and the same quantity of fresh clean mutton suet. Deer-suet is too brittle, and also apt to turn yellow.
Melt this by a slow fire, and perfume it when taken off, with forty drops of oil of rhodium, or of lavender. When cold, put it into small gallipots, or rather whilst in a liquid state.
The common way is to make this salve up into small cakes; in that form the colour is very apt to be impaired.
This salve never fails to cure chopped or sore lips, if applied pretty freely at bed-time, in the course of a day or two at farthest.
299. Another Method.
Beat the alkanet-root in a mortar, until its fibres are properly bruised; then tie it up in a piece of clean linen rag, and put this in a clear pipkin with the oil. When the oil has begun to boil, it will be found of a deep red. The bag is now to be taken out, pressed and thrown away, and then the other ingredients are to be added as above.
300. WHITE LIP-SALVE.
This may be made as above, except in the use of alkanet root, which is to be left out. Though called lip-salve, this composition is seldom applied to the lips; its principal use consisting in curing sore nipples, for which it is an excellent remedy.
301. TO SWEETEN THE BREATH.
Take two ounces of Terra Japonica, half an ounce of sugar candy, both in powder. Grind one drachm of the best ambergris with ten grains of pure musk; and dissolve a quarter of an ounce of clean gum tragacanth in two ounces of orange-flower water. Mix all together, so as to form a paste, which roll into pieces of the thickness of a straw. Cut these into pieces, and lay them in clean paper. This is an excellent perfume for those whose breath is disagreeable.
302. TO PERFUME CLOTHES.
Take of oven-dried best cloves, cedar and rhubarb wood, each one ounce, beat them to a powder, and sprinkle them in a box or chest, where they will create a most beautiful scent, and preserve the apparel against moths.
303. PERFUMED BAGS FOR DRAWERS.
Cut, slice, and mix well together, in the state of very gross powder, the following ingredients:
2 oz. of yellow saunders,
2 oz. of coriander seeds,
2 oz. of orris root,
2 oz. of calamus aromaticus,
2 oz. of cloves,
2 oz. of cinnamon bark,
2 oz. of dried rose leaves,
2 oz. of lavender flowers, and
1 lb. of oak shavings.
When properly mixed, stuff the above into small linen bags, which place in drawers, wardrobes, &c., which are musty, or liable to become so.
304. EXCELLENT PERFUME FOR GLOVES.
Take of ambergris one drachm, civet the like quantity; add flour-butter a quarter of an ounce; and with these well mixed, rub the gloves over gently with fine cotton wool, and press the perfume into them.
305. Another.
Take of damask or rose scent, half an ounce, the spirit of cloves and mace, each a drachm; frankincense, a quarter of an ounce. Mix them together, and lay them in papers, and when hard, press the gloves; they will take the scent in 24 hours, and hardly ever lose it.
306. TINCTURE OF MUSK.
This excellent spirit requires 6 drachms of China musk, 20 grains of civet, and 2 drachms of red rose buds. Reduce these ingredients to powder with loaf-sugar, and pour over them three pints of spirit of wine.
307. A PERFUME TO PREVENT PESTILENTIAL AIRS, &C.
Take of benjamin, storax, and galbanum, each half an ounce, temper them, being bruised into powder, with the oil of myrrh, and burn them in a chafing-dish, or else take rosemary, balm, and bay leaves; heat them in wine and sugar, and let the moisture be consumed; likewise burn them by the heat of the pan, and they will produce a very fine scent.
308. PASTILS FOR PERFUMING SICK ROOMS.
Powder separately the following ingredients, and then mix, on a marble slab,
1 lb. of gum benzoin,
8 oz. of gum storax,
1 lb. of frankincense, and
2 lbs. of fine charcoal.
Add to this composition the following liquids:
6 oz. of tincture of benzoin,
2 oz. of essence of ambergris,
1 oz. of essence of musk,
2 oz. of almond oil, and
4 oz. of clear syrup.
Mix the whole into a stiff paste, and form into pastils, of a conical shape, which dry in the heat of the sun. If more liquid should be required for the paste, add warm water.
309. AROMATIC PASTILS.
Beat and sift fine a pound of the four gums left after the making of honey-water, one pound also of the ingredients left from the spirit of Benjamin, one pound of the best sealing-wax, and one pound of genuine gum benzoin.
Dissolve some clear common gum arabic in a quantity of rose-water, of a pretty thick consistency, and add to it sixty drops of spirit of musk.
Mix the whole together, so as to make a pretty stiff paste, which make up into small cones or balls. Dry them thoroughly before they are put away, otherwise they will become mouldy.
These pastils are particularly useful for burning in rooms, where the sick or the dead have lain. They are used in very considerable quantities in the two Houses of Lords and Commons; also in various halls, assembly-rooms, &c.
310. HAIR POWDER PERFUME.
Take half a pound of pulvil powder, made from apple-tree moss, half an ounce of grey ambergris, thirty grains of musk, and twenty grains of civet.
Grind the musk and civet with loaf sugar, to a very fine powder; melt the ambergris, with 6 drops of the oil of behn nuts, over a gentle fire, in a clean vessel, not brass or copper; add, as it melts, a few drops of the juice of green lemon, and about 4 drops each of oil of rhodium and lavender.
When the ambergris is melted, put the above powder into it, stir and mix it well. Add, by degrees, the powder of apple-moss; and when the whole is combined, pulverize and sift it through a very fine hair sieve; what will not pass through, return into the mortar, again pound it with loaf-sugar, until the whole is reduced to fine powder.
311. AMBERGRIS PERFUME.
Melt 2 penny-weights of fine ambergris, in a brass mortar, very gently, stir in quickly, 8 drops of green lemon juice, and the same of behn-nut oil.
Add, ready powdered with fine loaf-sugar, 12 grains of musk, 12 grains of civet, and 24 grains of residuum from the making of spirit of ambergris.
Add 1 ounce of spirit of ambergris—mix and incorporate them well, and add 16 pounds of fine dry hair-powder. Pass the whole, twice, through a fine hair sieve; then lay it open for three days, in a dry room, stir it often, that the spirit may entirely evaporate, otherwise it may turn sour, which, however, will go off by keeping. Bottle and stop it close.
312. MUSK AND CIVET PERFUMES.
Take 2 penny-weights of pure musk, 12 grains of civet, and 1 penny-weight of the residuum of spirit of ambergris. Make this into a paste, with 2 ounces of spirit of musk, made by infusion. Powder it with loaf-sugar and mix in 16 pounds of fine hair powder.
313. ORRIS PERFUME.
Take best dried and scraped orris roots, free from mould. Bruise or grind them: the latter is best, as, being very tough, they require great labour to pound. Sift the powder through a fine hair sieve, and put the remainder in a baker’s oven, to dry the mixture. A violent heat will turn the roots yellow.
When dry, grind again, and sift; and repeat the same until the whole has passed through the sieve; mix nothing with it, as it would mould and spoil it.
314. VIOLET PERFUME.
Drop twelve drops of genuine oil of rhodium on a lump of loaf-sugar; grind this well in a glass mortar, and mix it thoroughly with three pounds of orris powder. This will, in its perfume, have a resemblance to a well-flavoured violet. If you add more rhodium oil, a rose perfume, instead of a violet one, will be produced; the orris powder is a most agreeable perfume, and only requiring to be raised by the addition of the above quantity of the oil.
Keep this perfume in the same manner as the others. What is sold at the druggist’s shops is generally adulterated.
315. ROSE PERFUME.
Take two pecks of fresh, dry damask rose-leaves; strip them from their leaves and stalks; have ready 16 pounds of fine hair-powder. Strew a layer of rose-leaves, on sheets of paper, at the bottom of a box, cover them over with a layer of hair-powder; then strew alternately a layer of roses and powder, until the whole of each has been used.
When they have lain 24 hours, sift the powder out, and expose it to the air 24 hours more. Stir it often. Add fresh rose-leaves, twice, as before, and proceed in the same way; after this dry the powder well by a gentle heat, and pass it through a fine sieve. Lastly, pour ten drops of oil of rhodium, or three drops of otto of roses, on loaf-sugar, which triturate in a glass mortar, and stir well into the powder, which put into a box, or glass, for use. This hair-powder perfume will be excellent, and will keep well.
316. BERGAMOT PERFUME.
Take sixteen pounds of hair powder, and forty drops of Roman oil of bergamot, and proceed in all respects as before, but do not leave the compound exposed to the air; for in this case the bergamot is so volatile that it will quickly fly off.
317. AMBERGRIS HAIR-POWDER.
Take twelve pounds of fine starch-powder, add three pounds of the ambergris perfume: mix them well together, and run it twice through a fine hair sieve. Put it into a well closed box, or glass, for use.
This is the first and best sort of ambergris powder: but for a second, or inferior sort, put only a pound and a half of the perfume, to the above quantity of starch-powder.
318. MUSK AND CIVET HAIR-POWDER.
Mix twelve pounds of starch-powder, and three pounds of musk perfume, as before. A second sort of this hair-powder may be made by using half the quantity of perfume.
319. VIOLET HAIR-POWDER.
Mix twelve pounds of hair-powder with three pounds of the violet perfume, and lay it by for use.
320. ROSE HAIR-POWDER.
Mix well twelve pounds of starch powder, with three pounds of the rose perfume. Sift; put it up in a cedar box, or glass bottle.
321. Another.
A second sort of this powder may be made by using half the quantity of the perfume, to twelve pounds of powder, and adding two drops of otto of roses, previously dropped on sugar, and well triturated in a glass mortar.
322. TO DESTROY SUPERFLUOUS HAIR.
Take of fresh lime-stone, 1 oz.
pure potass, 1 drachm,
sulphuret of potass, 1 drachm.
Reduce them to a fine powder in a Wedgewood mortar. If the hair be first washed, or soaked in warm water, (130 Fahr.) for ten minutes, this article, formed into a thin paste with warm water, and applied whilst warm, will so effectually destroy the hair in five or six minutes, that it may be removed by washing the skin with flannel. It is a powerful caustic, and should therefore be removed as soon as it begins to inflame the skin, by washing it off with vinegar. It softens the skin, and greatly improves its appearance.
323. SPANISH LADIES’ ROUGE.
Take good new scarlet wool cuttings, and spirit of wine, or lemon-juice, boil them in a well-glazed earthen pot, well stopped, till the liquid has charged itself with all the colour of the scarlet, strain the dye through a cloth, and all the colour therefrom; boil it afterwards in a little arabic water, till the colour becomes very deep. The proportion of materials is, to half a pound of scarlet cuttings, a quarter of a pint of spirit of wine, and a sufficient quantity of water to assist the soaking. Then, in the colour extracted, put a piece of gum arabic, of the size of a filbert: next steep some cotton in the colour, and wet some sheets of paper with the dye, which repeat several times, as often as they are dry, and you will find them sufficiently charged with rouge for use.
324. SPANISH VERMILION FOR THE TOILETTE.
Pour into the alkaline liquor which holds in solution the colouring part of bastard saffron, such a quantity of lemon juice as may be necessary to saturate the whole alkaline salts. At the time of the precipitation, the latter appears under the form of a fecula full of threads, which soon falls to the bottom of the vessel. Mix this part with white talc, reduced to fine powder, and moistened with a little lemon-juice and water. Then form the whole into a paste, and having put it in small pots, expose it to dry. This colour is reserved for the use of the toilette; but it has not the durability of that prepared from cochineal.
325. ECONOMICAL ROUGE.
Fine carmine, properly pulverized and prepared for the purpose, is the best that can be employed with safety and effect: it gives the most natural tone to the complexion, and imparts a brilliancy to the eyes, without detracting from the softness of the skin. To use it economically, take some of the finest pomatum, without scent, in which there is a proportion of white wax, about the size of a pea, just flatten it upon a piece of white paper, then take on a pointed penknife, carmine equal to a pin’s head, mix it gently with the pomatum, with your finger, and when you have produced the desired tint, rub it in a little compressed cotton, pass it over the cheeks till colour is clearly diffused, void of grease. Ladies will find, upon trial, that this economical rouge will neither injure the health nor the skin; and it imitates perfectly the natural colour of the complexion.
326. Another.
Take of French chalk, powdered, 4 oz.
oil of almonds, 2 drachms,
carmine, 1 do.
327. TURKISH BLOOM.
Infuse an ounce and a half of gum benzoin, 2 ounces of red saunders, in powder, and 2 drachms of dragon’s blood, in 12 ounces of rectified spirit of wine, and 4 ounces of river or rain water. When the ingredients have been mixed, stop the bottle close, and shake frequently during seven days; then filter through blotting paper.
328. A WASH FOR SUN-BURNT FACES AND HANDS.
To each pound of ox-gall, add,
roche alum, 1 drachm,
rock salt, ½ oz.
sugar candy, 1 oz.
borax, 2 drachms,
camphor, 1 drachm.
Mix and shake well for 15 minutes, then often, daily, for 15 days, or till the gall is transparent; filter through cap paper; use when exposed to the sun;—always washing off before sleep.
329. MACOUBA SNUFF.
The varied flavour of snuffs of different kinds arises less from the state of the original leaf, than the factitious additions of manufacturers. The snuff of Martinico, celebrated under the term “Macouba,” is made from the best leaves, which being moistened with juice from their excellent sugar-canes, undergoes fermentation, and having thrown off the offensive fetor in scum and residuum, is evaporated and ground in the usual manner.
330. CEPHALIC SNUFF.
Its basis is powdered asarum, (vulgo Asarabacca), reduced by admixture with a small portion of powdered dock-leaf, or any other innoxious vegetable. The finely levigated snuff, known as “Scotch,” may be added agreeable to the taste of the consumer; and finally a solution of spirit of wine and camphor, in the proportion of one drachm of the latter, in fifteen of spirit, is to be dropped upon the camphor, from five to ten drops to an ounce. Bottle your snuff immediately.
331. Another.
May be made of a very pleasant flavour, with the powder produced from sage, rosemary, lilies of the valley, and tops of sweet marjorum—of each one ounce, with a drachm of Asarabacca root, lavender flowers, and nutmeg; it should be very fine, and it will relieve the head vastly.
332. TO IMITATE SPANISH SNUFF.
Take good unsifted Havannah snuff, and grind it down to a fine powder. If the tobacco be too strong, mix it with the fine powder of Spanish nut-shells, which is by far the best mixture which can be used. Over this sprinkle some weak treacle water, and when, after mixing with the hands, it has lain in a heap for some days, to sweat and incorporate, pack it up; but take care that it be not too moist.
This snuff, in the course of twelve months, will be of one uniform and agreeable flavour; and will keep good and mending, for many years. When old, this sort will hardly be inferior to any of the plain snuffs made in Spain.
333. LONDON IMITATION OF SPANISH AND OTHER FOREIGN SNUFFS.
The fine powder, which is the best part of the snuff as it comes from abroad, is sifted from the bale snuff; and the course and stalky part left, is ground down, previously mixed with strong cheap tobacco powder, or dust, along with savine, brick-dust, yellow sand, the sweepings of tobacco, old rotten wood, and with many other filthy vegetable substances, both dry and green, to pass as the real flavour of tobacco. All or most of these ingredients being mixed into one body. This is nothing more than colouring the filthy compound with red ochre, or umber, or other noxious red or brown colour, mixed with water and molasses!
The whole, when properly incorporated, is now passed through a hair sieve, to mix it more intimately; and is then left for some time to sweat, or become equally moist. This moistness is intended to imitate the oiliness which is peculiar to the real genuine rancia from Havannah.
This snuff is packed in barrels, tin canisters, and stone jars, so that it may come out in lumps, like the Spanish snuffs. This is done to deceive the purchaser, on whom this bad compound is imposed for real Spanish snuff. Such is the composition of a very great part of what is made and sold in this town for common Spanish snuff.
334. TRANSPARENT SOAP.
Suet is the basis of all the soaps of the toilette, known by the name of Windsor soap, because olive-oil forms a paste too difficult to melt again, and contains an odour too strong to be mixed with essences. The suet soap dissolved hot in alcohol retakes its solid state by cooling. To this fact is due the discovery of transparent soap, which, if well prepared, has the appearance of candied sugar; it may also be coloured, and the vegetable hues for this purpose, are preferable to mineral; any person may make this soap, by putting in a thin glass phial, the half of a cake of Windsor soap-shavings; fill it with one half of alcohol, and put it near the fire until the soap is dissolved; this mixture, placed into a mould to cool, produces the transparent soap.
335. WINDSOR SOAP.
Melt hard curd soap, and scent it with oil of karni, and essence of bergamot, bought at the druggists; or the essence of bergamot may be omitted.
336. ALMOND SOAP.
Upon 1 lb. of quick-lime, pour 3 quarts of boiling distilled water; add 1 lb. of salt of tartar, dissolved in 1 quart of water; cover the vessel, and when cold, filter through a cotton cloth: a pint should weigh exactly 16 ounces troy; if more, add distilled water, and if less evaporate. Then add one third of oil of almonds, simmer them together for some hours, or until the oil forms a jelly; when cool, which may be tried on a small quantity, add common salt, and then continue boiling till the soap is solid; when cold, skim off the water, and then pour into moulds.
337. Another Method.
Take 2 lbs. of soap ley, made of barilla or kelp, so strong that a bottle, holding half a pint of water, will hold 11 ounces of the ley, and 4 lbs of oil of almonds; rub them together in a mortar, and put the mixture into tin moulds, where let it be for some weeks, till the combination is perfect.
338. MARBLED SOAP BALLS.
Take ten pounds of white oil soap, and ten pounds of Joppa soap. Cut them into small square pieces, which set to dry for three days: the oil-soap, particularly, must be thus dried.
Scrape, very finely, five pounds of oil-soap, which dry for one day, in the open air, mix it well in the shaving-box with five pounds of powder, add an ounce and a half of the best vermilion.
In mixing, place pieces of soap, and coloured powder, in layers in the box, making, in all, four alternate layers of each. When a layer of each has been placed in the box, sprinkle a pint of rose-water over the cut soap; for if it be much combined with the powder, it will become lumpy and hard, and consequently spoil the wash-balls. The same quantity of rose-water is to be used for moistening each of the other soap layers. Next mix a pint of thin starch, which has been well boiled in half a pint of rain water, with half a pint of rose-water, and distribute it equally well mixed among the mass, by turning it over repeatedly, and then press it down close with the hands. If a piece be now cut out from the mass, the operator will perceive whether the marbling is sufficiently good; and if so, he may proceed immediately to form his wash-balls.
339. TO IMITATE NAPLES SOAP.
Take of fresh ley, strong enough to bear an egg, eight pounds, and put to it of deer’s, goat’s, or lamb’s suet, (which has previously been well cleansed from all skins, &c. by rose-water,) two pounds, and one pound of olive-oil, or rather behn-nut oil. Let all these simmer over the fire in a well-glazed pot, until it be pretty nearly of the consistence of crown or Naples soap; then turn it out into a large flat pan, which set on the leads or roof of the house, exposed to the heat of the sun for fifty days. The pan must be covered over with a bell glass, such as the gardeners use, and the mixture must be stirred once a day, during the whole of this time.
In about six weeks or two months, the operator will have a most excellent ground-work for Naples soap, which only requires perfuming in the following manner, to render it even preferable to the foreign sorts.
Take of oil of rhodium, one ounce, of spirit of ambergris, two ounces and a half, spirit of musk, half an ounce; mix these well together, and then put the compound into the pan of soap. Stir the whole well, and incorporate the perfumes with the soap, on a marble stone by means of a muller. Put up into small jars, or preserve in a mass in a large jar, according to sale or convenience. If kept for twelve months, this soap will be found, by comparison, to be far preferable to the best soap that ever came from Naples.
SIMPLE DISTILLED WATERS.
340. PRESERVATION OF FLOWERS FOR DISTILLATION.
Rub three pounds of rose-leaves for three minutes with a pound of common salt. The flowers being bruised by the friction of the grains of salt, form a paste, which is to be put into an earthen jar, or into a water-tight barrel. The same process is to be repeated until the vessel is filled, so that all the roses may be equally salted. The vessel is then to be shut up and kept in a cool place until wanted.
For distillation, this aromatic paste is, at any season, to be put into the body of the still with twice its weight of water; and when heat is applied, the oil, or essential water, is to be obtained in the common way. Both the oil and water are in this way produced in greater quantity than by using the leaves without the salt: besides, the preserved paste will keep its flavour and strength unimpaired for several years.
Other flowers, capable of affording essential oils may also be treated in the above-mentioned way, with economy and advantage; as there is thereby no occasion to carry on a hurried process in the heat of summer, when these are in perfection.
341. GENERAL RULES FOR THE DISTILLATION OF SIMPLE WATERS.
1. Plants and their parts ought to be fresh gathered. When they are directed fresh, such only must be employed; but some are allowed to be used dry, as being easily procurable in this state at all times of the year, though rather more elegant waters might be obtained from them whilst green.
2. Having bruised the subjects a little, pour thereon thrice their quantity of spring water.
This quantity is to be diminished or increased, according as the plants are more or less juicy than ordinary.
When fresh and juicy herbs are to be distilled, thrice their weight of water will be fully sufficient, but dry ones require a much larger quantity.
In general, there should be so much water, that after all intended to be distilled has come over, there may be liquor enough to prevent the matter from burning to the still.
3. Formerly, some vegetables were slightly fermented with the addition of yeast, previous to their distillation.
4. If any drops of oil swim on the surface of the water, they are to be carefully taken off.
5. That the waters may be kept the better, about one-twentieth part of their weight of proof spirit may be added to each after they are distilled.
342. STILLS FOR SIMPLE WATERS.
The instruments chiefly used in the distillation of simple waters are of two kinds, commonly called the hot still, or alembic, and the cold still. The waters drawn by the cold still from plants are much more fragrant, and more fully impregnated with their virtues, than those drawn by the hot still or alembic.
The method is this:—A pewter body is suspended in the body of the alembic, and the head of the still fitted to the pewter body; into this body the ingredients to be distilled are put, the alembic filled with water, the still-head luted to the pewter body, and the nose luted to the worm of the refrigeratory or worm. The same intention will be answered by putting the ingredients into a glass alembic, and placing it in a bath-heat, or balneum mariæ.
The cold still is much the best adapted to draw off the virtues of simples, which are valued for their fine flavour when green, which is subject to be lost in drying; for when we want to extract a spirit from plants so light and volatile, as not to subsist in open air any longer than while the plant continues in its growth, it is certainly the best method to remove the plant from its native soil, into some proper instrument, where, as it dies, these votile parts may be collected and preserved. And such an instrument is what we call the cold still, where the drying of the plant, or flower, is only forwarded by a moderate warmth, and all that rises is collected and preserved.
343. EXPEDITIOUS MODE OF DISTILLING SIMPLE WATERS.
Tie a piece of muslin or gauze over a glazed earthern pot, whose mouth is just large enough to receive the bottom of a warming-pan; on this cloth lay the herb, clipped; then place upon them the warming-pan, with live coals in it, to cause heat just enough to prevent burning, by which means as the steam issuing out of the herb cannot mount upwards, by reason of the bottom of the pan just fitting the brim of the vessel below it, it must necessarily descend, and collect into water at the bottom of the receiver, and that strongly impregnated with the essential oil, and the salt of the vegetable thus distilled; which, if wanted to make spirituous or compound water, is easily done, by simply adding some good spirits, or French brandy to it, which will keep good for a long time, and be much better than if the spirits had passed through a still, which must, of necessity, waste some of their strength. Care should be taken not to let the fire be too strong, lest it scorch the plants; and to be made of charcoal, for continuance and better regulation, which must be managed by lifting up and laying down the lid, as wanted to increase or decrease the degrees of heat. The deeper the earthen pan, the cooler the season, and the less fire at first (afterwards to be gradually raised), in the greater perfection will the distilled water be obtained.
As the more moveable, or volatile parts of vegetables, are the aqueous, the oily, the gummy, the resinous, and the saline, these are to be expected in the waters of this process; the heat here employed being so great as to burst the vessels of the plants, some of which contain so large a quantity of oil, that it may be seen swimming on the surface of the water.
Although a small quantity only of distilled waters can be obtained at a time by this confined operation, yet it compensates in strength what is deficient in quantity. Such liquors, if well corked up from the air, will keep good a long time, especially if about a twentieth part of any spirits be added, in order to preserve the same more effectually.
344. ROSEMARY WATER.
As the method of performing the operation by the cold still is the very same, whatever plant or flower is used, the following instance of procuring a water from rosemary, will be abundantly sufficient to instruct the young practitioner in the manner of conducting the process in all cases whatever.
Take rosemary, fresh gathered in its perfection, with the morning dew upon it, and lay it lightly and unbruised upon the plate or bottom of the still; cover the plate with its conical head, and apply a glass receiver to the nose of it. Make a small fire of charcoal under the plate, continuing it as long as any liquor comes over into the receiver.
When nothing more comes over, take off the still head, and remove the plant, putting fresh in its stead, and proceed as before; continue to repeat the operation successively, till a sufficient quantity of water is procured. Let this distilled water be kept at rest in clean bottles, close stopped, for some days in a cool place; by this means it will become limpid, and powerfully impregnated with the taste and smell of the plant.
345. SIMPLE ALEXETERIAL WATERS.
Take of spearmint leaves, fresh, 1½ lbs. sea wormwood tops, fresh, angelica leaves, fresh, each 1 pound; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Draw off by distillation 3 gallons.
Or, take of elder flowers, moderately dried, 2 pounds; angelica leaves, fresh gathered, 1 pound; water, a sufficient quantity. Distil off three gallons.
346. SIMPLE PENNYROYAL WATER.
Take of pennyroyal leaves, dry, a pound and a half; water, as much as will prevent burning. Draw off by distillation 1 gallon.
347. SIMPLE SPEARMINT WATER.
Take of spearmint leaves, fresh, any quantity; water, three times as much. Distil as long as the liquor which comes over has a considerable taste or smell of the mint.
Or, take spearmint leaves, dried, 1½ lbs., water as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Draw off by distillation 1 gallon.
348. CINNAMON WATER.
Take of bruised cinnamon, 1 lb.
water, 2 gallons.
Simmer in a still for half an hour, put what comes over into the still again; when cold, strain through flannel.
349. EAU SANS-PAREIL.
Take two gallons of fine old honey-water, put it into a still capable of holding four gallons, and add the thinly pared rinds of six or eight fresh citrons, neither green nor mellow ripe. Then add sixty or seventy drops of fine Roman bergamot; and, having luted the apparatus well, let the whole digest in a moderate heat for twenty-four hours. Draw off, by a water-bath heat, about one gallon.
350. JESSAMINE WATER.
Take six pounds of the white sweet almond cakes, from which jessamine oil has been made abroad; beat and sift them to a fine powder, and put to it as much fresh oil of jessamine as will be required to make it into a stiff paste. Let this paste be dissolved in about six quarts of spring water, which has been previously well boiled, and left until it has become about half cold. Stir and mix the whole well together; and when the oil and water has been well combined, let the whole stand until the powder has fallen to the bottom of the vessel. Now pour the liquid off gently, and filter it through cotton, in a large tin funnel, into the glass bottle in which it is to be kept for use.
The powder or sediment which has been left at the bottom of the vessel, when dried by the heat of the sun, answers very well for making almond paste for the hands.
351. JAMAICA PEPPER WATER.
Jamaica pepper is the fruit of a tall tree growing in the mountainous parts of Jamaica, where it is much cultivated, because of the great profit arising from the cured fruit, sent in large quantities annually into Europe.
Take of Jamaica pepper, half a pound; water, two gallons and a half; draw off 1 gallon with a pretty brisk fire. The oil of this fruit is very ponderous, and therefore, this water is made in an alembic.
352. MYRTLE WATER.
Infuse eight or ten pounds of the cuttings of green myrtle, in nearly twenty gallons of rain or river water, and add thereto a pint of fresh yeast, after it has stood for twenty-four hours. At the end of another day and night, put the whole into a still, with a pound of bay salt. Draw off the whole of the water; and, next day, infuse more myrtle leaves, as before, and distil again. Repeat the same a third time.
353. ORANGE FLOWER WATER.
Take two pounds of orange flowers, and twenty-four quarts of water, and draw over three pints.
Or, take twelve pounds of orange flowers, and sixteen quarts of water, and draw over fifteen quarts.
354. ORANGE PEEL WATER.
Take of the outward yellow rind of Seville oranges, four ounces; water, three gallons and a half; draw off one gallon by the alembic, with a brisk fire.
355. PEPPERMINT WATER.
Take of the herb of peppermint, dried, 1½ lbs.
water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning.
Distil off a gallon. This has been known to allay sickness when nothing else would succeed, and is used in flatulent colics. A wine-glassful may be taken, and often repeated.
356. Another.
Take of oil of peppermint, 1 pound,
water, a sufficient quantity.
Draw off 30 gallons. This is stimulant and carminative; and covers disagreeable flavours.
357. PORTUGAL AND ANGEL WATERS.
Take a pint of orange-flower water, a pint of rose-water, and half a pint of myrtle-water; to these put a quarter of an ounce of distilled spirit of musk, and an ounce of spirit of ambergris. Shake the whole well together, and the process will be finished.
358. ROSE WATER.
Take of the leaves of fresh damask roses, with
the heels cut off, 6 lbs.
water, as much as to prevent burning.
Distil off a gallon.
The distilled waters should be drawn from dried herbs, because the fresh cannot be got at all times in the year. Whenever the fresh are used the weights must be increased; but whether the fresh or dry are made use of, it is left to the judgment of the operator to vary the weight, according as the plants are in greater or less perfection, owing to the season in which they grew or were collected.
359. STRAWBERRY WATER.
Take of the bruised fruit, 20 lbs.
water a sufficient quantity.
Draw off two gallons and a half: this water is very fragrant.
360. COMMON DISTILLED WATER.
Take of water, 10 gallons.
Distil. Throw away the first ⅓ gallon, and draw off four gallons, which keep in glass or stone ware.
Distilled water is used as a diet drink in cancerous diseases, and should be used in making medicines when the salts contained in common water would decompose them.
COMPOUND DISTILLED WATERS.
361. GENERAL RULES FOR THE DISTILLATION OF SPIRITUOUS WATERS.
1. The plants and their parts ought to be moderately and newly dried, except such as are ordered to be fresh gathered.
2. After the ingredients have been steeped in the spirit for the time prescribed, add as much water as is sufficient to prevent a burnt flavour, or rather more.
3. The liquor which comes over first in distillation is by some kept by itself, under the title of spirit; and the other runnings, which prove milky, are fined down by art. But it is preferable to mix all the runnings together, without fining them, that the waters may possess the virtues of the plant entire.
4. In the distillation of these waters, the genuine brandy obtained from wine is directed.
Where this is not to be procured, take, instead of that proof spirit, half its quantity of a well rectified spirit, prepared from any other fermented liquors. In this steep the ingredients, and then add spring water enough, both to make up the quantity ordered to be drawn off, and to prevent burning.
362. BERGAMOT WATER.
Take of fine old French brandy, 2 gallons, or 1 gallon of highly rectified spirit of wine, and 1 gallon of spring water. Put to the brandy, or diluted spirits, ½ an ounce, or more, of true Roman oil of bergamot, whose parts have been previously well divided by trituration with lump sugar, in a glass mortar.
Now distil by a water heat, and draw off six quarts only. By this operation, a most excellent bergamot water will be produced, which will remain good for twenty years.
363. ORIGINAL RECEIPT FOR HUNGARY WATER.
The original receipt for preparing this invaluable lotion, is written in letters of gold in the hand-writing of Elizabeth, queen of Hungary.
Take of aque vitæ, four times distilled, 3 parts,
the tops and flowers of rosemary, 2 parts.
To be put together in a close-stopped vessel, and allowed to stand in a warm place, during fifty hours, then to be distilled in an alembic, and of this, once every week, 1 drachm to be taken in the morning, either in the food or drink, and every morning the face and the deceased limb to be washed with it.
364. Best Hungary Water.
Take thirty gallons of spirit of wine; put to it, in a large still, six large bunches of fine green rosemary, when the flowers are white, and in full bloom; one pound of lavender-flowers, and four ounces of true English oil of rosemary. The rosemary-leaves and flowers must be stripped from all their wood and green twigs.
When the whole has been in a state of digestion for twenty-four hours, distil as before, drawing off about twenty-five or twenty-six gallons, but no more. When distilled, stop it closely in a copper vessel, and keep it undisturbed for about a month.
365. LAVENDER SPIRIT.
Take 14 pounds of lavender flowers, 10½ gallons of rectified spirit of wine, and one gallon of water; draw off 10 gallons by a gentle fire; or, which is much better, by a sand bath heat.
366. LAVENDER WATER.
Take 30 gallons of the best wine spirit; pour it into a copper still, placed in a hot-water bath, over a clear but steady fire; put to it 6 pounds of the largest and freshest lavender flowers, after having separated them from all stalks and green leaves, which give the lavender-water a woody and faint smell. Put no water into the still, close all the junctures well, and let the spirits and flowers stand in a state of digestion for 24 hours; and then, with a gentle fire, draw off 25, or, at most, 26 gallons only, which, as soon as distilled, are to be poured into a copper vessel, for keeping. Wooden vessels and cans are to be avoided, as the best parts of the oil, and of the spirits, will be absorbed by them and consequently lost.
When the distillation is over, draw out, or quench the fire, and let the remaining spirits and flowers continue in the still until the next day.
When the above quantity of 25 or 26 gallons has stood for 4 or 5 days, put it to ten ounces of true English oil of lavender. Mix the whole well in the jar, by drawing out one or two gallons, and then returning them. Repeat this ten or twelve times, then stop the vessel up close, and do not disturb it for a month, at least.
367. Lavender Water, of the second order.
To the four or five gallons of the spirits, and the lavender flowers left in the still, after the distillation mentioned in the last article, add 15 gallons of common proof spirit, 9 or 10 gallons of spring water, 3 pounds of lavender flowers, and 4 ounces of oil of lavender, intimately mixed with loaf-sugar, by powdering it in a glass mortar.
Digest the whole, and draw off 25 gallons, proceeding in every respect as before, except that in this case, no oil is to be added; for, as there is so much water present, the addition of oil would be apt to turn the whole quantity muddy, or of a bluish or opaque colour, which it cannot be easily freed from, without a second distillation.
368. Lavender Water, for immediate use.
Mix with one gallon of proof spirit, 1¼ ounce of true English oil of lavender, which is all that will properly combine with the spirit, without injuring the colour, by rendering it muddy. When the spirit and the oil are properly mixed, they are to be put into glass bottles, which are to be well stopped, and ought to be shaken before used.
369. Perfumed Lavender Water.
Distil by a gentle heat in a sand or water-bath; or, mix and shake frequently during fourteen days, the following ingredients:
1 ounce of foreign oil of lavender,
½ ditto of English ditto,
½ ditto of essence of ambergris, and
1 gallon of rectified spirit of wine.
370. LEMON WATER.
The peel of the lemon, the part used in making this water, is a very grateful bitter aromatic, and, on that account, very serviceable in repairing and strengthening the stomach.
Take of dried lemon-peel, 4 lbs.
proof spirit, 10½ gallons, and
1 gallon of water.
Draw off ten gallons by a gentle fire.
371. SPIRIT OF PEPPERMINT.
Take of the herb of peppermint, dried, 1½ lbs.
proof spirit, 1 gallon,
water, sufficient to prevent burning.
Distil off a gallon.
372. COMPOUND GENTIAN WATER.
Take of gentian-root, sliced, 3 lbs.; leaves and flowers of the lesser centaury, each 8 ounces; infuse the whole in 6 quarts of proof spirit, and 1 quart of water; and draw off the water till the feints begin to rise.
373. SPIRIT OF SCURVY-GRASS.
Take of scurvy-grass, fresh gathered and bruised, 15 pounds; horse-radish root, 6 pounds; rectified spirit of wine, 1 gallon; and water three pints. Digest the whole in a close vessel two days, and draw off a gallon with a gentle fire.
374. ANTISCORBUTIC WATER.
Take of the leaves of water-cresses, garden and sea scurvy-grass, and brook-lime, each 20 handsful; of pine-tops, germander, horehound, and the lesser centaury, each 16 handsful; of the roots of bryony and sharp pointed dock, each 6 pounds; of mustard-seed, 1½ pounds. Digest the whole in 10 gallons of proof spirit, and 2 gallons of water, and draw off by a gentle fire.
ACID LIQUORS.
375. VINEGAR.
Vinegar is used chiefly as a sauce, and to preserve vegetable substances; but it is employed externally when an over dose of strong wine, spirit, opium, or other narcotic poison has been taken. A false strength is given to it by adding oil of vitriol, or some acrid vegetable, as pellitory of Spain, capsicum, &c. It is rendered colourless by adding fresh burned bone black, 6 ounces to a gallon, and letting it stand for two or three days to clear.
376. TO MAKE VINEGAR.
Mix cider and honey, in the proportion of 1 lb. of honey to a gallon of cider, and let it stand in a vessel for some months, and vinegar will be produced so powerful, that water must be mixed with it for common use.
377. Another Method.
Scheele, a celebrated chymist, has recommended the following recipe: Take 6 spoonsful of good alcohol; to this, add 3 pints of milk, and put the mixture into vessels to be corked close. Vent must be given from time to time to the gas of fermentation. In the course of a month, this will produce very good vinegar.
378. Another.
Put into a barrel, of sufficient dimensions, a mixture composed of 41 wine pints of water, about 8 pints of whiskey, (l’eau de vin de grain) about 2 wine pints of yeast, and 2 pounds of charcoal, and place it in a proper situation for fermentation. At the end of four months a very good vinegar will be formed, as clear and as white as water.
379. COMMON VINEGAR.
This is made from weak malt liquor, brewed for the purpose; its various strength is, in England, denoted by numbers, from 18 to 24.
380. Another.
To every gallon of water put 1 lb. of coarse Lisbon sugar; let the mixture be boiled, and skimmed as long as any scum arises. Then let it be poured into proper vessels; and when it is as cool as beer, when worked, let a toast, rubbed over with yeast, be put to it. Let it work about 24 hours, and then put it into an iron-hooped cask, fixed either near a constant fire, or where the summer sun shines the greater part of the day; in this situation it should not be closely stopped up; but a tile, or something similar, should be laid on the bung-hole, to keep out the dust and insects. At the end of about three months (sometimes less) it will be clear and fit for use, and may be bottled off. The longer it is kept, after it is bottled, the better it will be. If the vessel containing the liquor is to be exposed to the sun’s heat, the best time to begin making it is in the month of April.
381. WINE VINEGAR.
Take any sort of wine that has gone through fermentation, and put it into a cask that has had vinegar in it; then take some of the fruit or stalks of which the wine has been made, and put them wet into an open-headed cask in the sun, with a coarse cloth over the top of it, for six days—after which put them in the vinegar, and stir it well about—then put it in a warm place, if in winter, or if in summer, put it in a yard in the sun, with a slate over the bung. When the vinegar is sour enough and fine, rack it off into a clean sour cask, and bung it up; then put it in the cellar for use. Those wines that contain the most mucilage are fittest for the purpose.
The lees of pricked wine are also a very proper ingredient in vinegar.
382. SUGAR VINEGAR.
To each gallon of water add 2 lbs. of brown sugar, and a little yeast; leave it exposed to the sun for six months, in a vessel slightly stopped.
383. GOOSEBERRY VINEGAR.
Bruise the gooseberries, when ripe, and to every quart put three quarts of water; stir them well together, and let the whole stand for 24 hours, then strain it through a canvas bag.
To every gallon of liquor add 1 lb. of brown sugar, and stir them well together before they are put into the cask. Proceed in all other respects as before. This vinegar possesses a pleasant taste and smell; but raspberry vinegar, which may be made on the same plan, is far superior in these respects. The raspberries are not required to be of the best sort, still, they should be ripe and well flavoured.
384. CURRANT VINEGAR.
This is made in the same way as that from gooseberries, only pick off the currants from the stalks.
385. PRIMROSE VINEGAR.
To 15 quarts of water put 6 lbs. of brown sugar; let it boil ten minutes, and take off the scum: pour on it half a peck of primroses; before it is quite cold, put in a little fresh yeast, and let it work in a warm place all night; put it in a barrel in the kitchen, and when done working, close the barrel, still keeping it in a warm place.
386. RAISIN VINEGAR.
After making raisin wine, lay the pressed raisins in a heap to heat, then to each cwt. put 15 gallons of water, and a little yeast.
387. CIDER VINEGAR.
The poorest sort of cider will serve for vinegar, in managing which proceed thus:—
First draw off the cider into a cask that has had vinegar in it before; then put some of the apples that have been pressed into it, set the whole in the sun, and in a week or nine days it may be drawn off into another cask.—This is a good table vinegar.
388. VINEGAR FROM THE REFUSE OF FRUITS.
Take the skins of raisins after they have been used in making wine, and pour three times their own quantity of boiling water on them; stir them well about, and then set the cask in a warm place, close covered, and the liquor, in a week, when drawn off from its sediment, put into another cask, and well bunged down, will be a good vinegar for the table.
389. VINEGAR FROM THE REFUSE OF BEE-HIVES.
When honey is extracted from the combs, by means of pressure, take the whole mass, break and separate it, and into each tub or vessel, put one part of combs and two of water; place them in the sun, or in a warm place, and cover them with cloths. Fermentation takes place in a few days, and continues from 8 to 12 days, according to the higher or lower temperature of the situation in which the operation is carried on. During the fermentation, stir the matter from time to time, and press it down with the hands, that it may be perfectly soaked. When the fermentation is over, put the matter to drain upon sieves or strainers. At the bottom of the vessels will be found a yellow liquor, which must be thrown away, because it would soon contract a disagreeable smell, which it would communicate to the vinegar. Then wash the tubs, put into them the water separated from the other matter; it immediately begins to turn sour; when the tubs must be again covered with cloths, and kept moderately warm. A pellicle, or skin, is formed on their surface, beneath which the vinegar acquires strength; in a month’s time it begins to be sharp; it must be left standing a little longer, and then put into a cask, of which the bung-hole is left open. It may then be used like any other vinegar.
390. TO STRENGTHEN VINEGAR.
Suffer it to be repeatedly frozen, and separate the upper cake of ice, or water, from it.
All vinegars owe their principal strength to the acetic acid they contain; but the vinegar of wine contains also tartar, a small portion of the malic acid, alcohol, and colouring matter; that of eider contains merely the malic acid, little or no alcohol, and a yellowish colouring matter.
391. VINEGARS FROM ORANGE AND ELDER FLOWERS, CLOVE-GILLIFLOWERS, MUSK-ROSES, &c.
Dry an ounce of either of the above flowers, (except the orange flowers, which will not bear drying,) for two days in the sun; then put them into a bottle, pour on them a pint of vinegar, closely stop the bottle, and infuse 15 days in moderate heat of the sun. Vinegars of any other flowers, as tarragon, &c. may be made in a similar manner.
392. DISTILLED VINEGAR.
This is obtained from vinegar by distillation, rejecting the 4th or 8th part that comes over first, and avoiding its acquiring a burnt flavour.
Distilled vinegar is weaker than the common, but is used sometimes in pickles, where its want of colour is an advantage.
393. IMPROVED DISTILLED VINEGAR.
Obtained from wood distilled in large iron cylinders for the manufacture of charcoal for gunpowder; when rectified it is used for all the purposes of distilled vinegar.
394. TO MAKE STRONG ACETOUS ACID.
Take of vitriol, calcined to whiteness, 1 lb.
sugar of lead, 10 drachms,
Rub together and distil.
395. Another.
Take of sugar of lead, 7 lbs.
oil of vitriol 4½ lbs.
Distil 2½ lbs. This is used to make aromatic vinegar.
396. HONEY WATER FOR THE HAIR.
Take of honey, 4 lbs.
very dry sand, 2 lbs.
Mix and put into a vessel that will hold five times as much; distil with a gentle heat a yellowish acid water: this acid greatly encourages the growth of hair.
397. DEPHLOGISTICATED SPIRIT OF SALT.
Take of common salt, 3 lbs.
manganese, 1 lb.
oil of vitriol, 2 lbs.
water, 1 lb.
Distil, placing a sufficient quantity of water in the receiver.
This spirit is of a pale greenish yellow, and scarcely heavier than water. It bleaches linen, straw, and takes out fruit spots, iron moulds, or ink marks.
MISCELLANEOUS BEVERAGES.
398. TO MAKE GINGER BEER.
Take of good Jamaica ginger, 2½ oz.
Moist sugar, 3 lbs.
cream of tartar, 1 oz.
the juice and peel of 2 middling sized lemons,
brandy ½ pint,
good solid ale yeast, ¼ pint,
water, 3½ gallons.
This will produce 4½ dozen of excellent ginger beer, which will keep twelve months. Bruise the ginger and sugar, and boil them for 20 or 25 minutes in the water, slice the lemon and put it and the cream of tartar into a large pan; pour the boiling liquor upon them, stir it well round, and when milk-warm, add the yeast; cover it over, let it remain two or three days to work, skimming it frequently; then strain it through a jelly-bag into a cask, add the brandy, bung down very close, and at the end of a fortnight or three weeks, draw it off and bottle, and cork very tight; tie the cork down with twine or wire. If it does not work well at first, add a little more yeast, but be careful of adding too much, least it taste of it.
399. SPRUCE BEER.
Take, if white is intended, 6 lbs. of sugar; if brown, as much treacle, and a pot of spruce, and ten gallons of water.
This is also managed in the same way as ginger beer, except that it should be bottled as soon as it has done working.
400. BROWN SPRUCE BEER.
Pour 8 gallons of cold water into a barrel, and then boiling 8 gallons more, put that in also, add 12 lbs. of molasses, with about ½ lb. of the essence of spruce; and on its getting a little cooler, ½ a pint of good ale yeast. The whole being well stirred or rolled in the barrel, must be left with the bung out for two or three days; after which the liquor may be immediately bottled, well corked up, and packed in saw-dust or sand, when it will be ripe, and fit to drink in a fortnight.
Remember, that it should be drawn off into quart stone bottles, and wired.
401. WHITE SPRUCE BEER.
For a cask of six gallons, mix well together ¼ lb. of the purest essence of spruce, 7 lbs. of loaf-sugar made into a clarified syrup, and about 1½ gallons of hot water; and when sufficiently stirred and incorporated; put it into the cask, and fill up with cold water. Then add about a ¼ of a pint of good ale yeast, shake the cask well, and let it work for three or four days: after which, bung it up. In a few days it may be bottled off after the usual manner, and in a week or ten days it will be fit for use. If, on bunging it close, about ¼ of an oz. of isinglass, first dissolved in a little of the warmed liquor, or in cider, be stirred in, by way of fining, it will acquire a superior degree of clearness. In proportion to the coldness of the weather, the quantity of yeast should be increased. Some, instead of yeast, use ale or beer-grounds the first time of making, and afterwards the grounds of their former spruce beer. In warm weather, very little ferment is requisite.
402. SELTZER WATER.
Take of water any quantity. Impregnate it with about ten times its volume of carbonic acid gas, by means of a forcing pump.
403. LIQUID MAGNESIA.
Take of water 1 gallon,
carbonate of magnesia, 3 drachms, and
impregnate it as above.
404. POTASS WATER.
Take one ounce of subcarbonate of potass, and impregnate as above.
405. SODA WATER.
Take 2 ounces of subcarbonate of soda, and impregnate as above.
406. PORTABLE LEMONADE.
Take of tartaric acid, ½ oz.
loaf sugar, 3 oz.
essence of lemon, ½ drachm.
Powder the tartaric acid and the sugar very fine, in a marble or wedgewood mortar, (observe never to use a metal one) mix them together, and pour the essence of lemon upon them, by a few drops at a time, stirring the mixture after each addition, till the whole is added, then mix them thoroughly, and divide it into twelve equal parts, wrapping each up separately in a piece of white paper. When wanted for use, it is only necessary to dissolve it in a tumbler of cold water, and fine lemonade will be obtained, containing the flavour of the juice and peel of the lemon, and ready sweetened.
407. TO MAKE CHOCOLATE.
To make good chocolate, put the milk and water on to boil; then scrape the chocolate fine, from one to two squares to a pint, to suit the stomach: when the milk and water boils, take it off the fire; throw in the chocolate; mill it well, and serve it up with the froth; which process will not take 5 minutes. The sugar may either be put in with the scraped chocolate or added afterwards.
It should never be made before it is wanted; because heating again injures the flavour, destroys the froth, and separates the body of the chocolate; the oil of the nut being observed, after a few minutes’ boiling, or even standing long by the fire, to rise to the top, which is the only cause this chocolate can offend the most delicate stomach.
408. TO MAKE COFFEE.
To have coffee in perfection, it should be made from the best production, carefully roasted, and after cooling for a few minutes, reduced to powder, and immediately infused; the tincture will then be of a superior description. But for common use, the coffee of our own plantations is, in general, of very good quality.
In England, too little powder of the berry is commonly given. It requires about one small cup of coffee-powder to make four cups of tincture for the table. This is at the rate of an ounce of good powder to four common coffee-cups. When the powder is put in the bag, as many cups of boiling water is poured over it as may be wanted.
Pour a pint of boiling water on an ounce of coffee; let it boil five or six minutes, then pour out a cupful two or three times, and return it again; put two or three isinglass slips into it; or a lump or two of fine sugar; boil it five minutes longer, set the pot by the fire to keep hot for ten minutes, and the coffee will be beautifully clear. A hot cream should always be served with coffee. For foreigners, or those who like it extremely strong, make only eight dishes from three ounces. If not fresh roasted, lay it before a fire till hot and dry; or put the smallest bit of fresh butter into a preserving-pan, when hot throw the coffee into it, and toss it about till it be freshened.